For those who have already seen Elodie being thrown into a chasm on her wedding day, facing off against a dragon and eventually escaping to exact vengeance, it is difficult to buy into the uneasy sense of hope Elodie feels about her impending marriage. Neither is it a surprise that the royal family of Aurea (headed by Robin Wright’s deliciously devious Queen) have an ancient tradition of sacrificing innocent young girls to a fire-breathing beast. Of course, because Elodie is “not like other girls”, she will come out of this predicament alive unlike the hundreds of girls before her. And if you guessed that the dragon is actually a misunderstood monster that will ultimately team up with Elodie, congratulations, you’ve watched enough fantasy films to be able to foresee clichéd endings. Yet for all its predictability couched in lush cinematography, Damsel does have some intriguing elements.
A Surprise Rather than a Spoiler
Less predictable than the treatment that the princess gets in Damsel is the film’s subversion of another favourite fairy tale trope: The Wicked Stepmother. Angela Bassett plays Lady Bayford, Elodie’s stepmother, who is initially eager to get her stepdaughter married off. On their way to Aurea, Lady Bayford scolds Elodie for not looking suitably presentable for her in-laws and in these early chapters, she’s everything you expect from the stepmother archetype. However, once Lady Bayford senses that something is amiss, she sets aside her material desires to protect her stepdaughter. She warns Elodie to not go through with the wedding, and for the rest of her limited screen-time in the film, she does everything in her power to save her family. Through her performance, Bassett conveys Lady Bayford’s strong will and sensitivity, making her one of the more interesting characters in Damsel. Elodie calls her ‘Mother’ for the first time at the end of the film, an inevitable yet rather sweet moment.