Madeline (1998 film)

Madeline is a 1998 live-action family dramedy film adaptation of the children's book series and television series Madeline. The film starred newcomer Hatty Jones as the titular character with the better known Frances McDormand and Nigel Hawthorne in supporting roles as Miss Clavel and Lord Covington.[2] The film encompasses the plots of four Madeline books. It was released on July 10, 1998 by TriStar Pictures.[3]
== Plot ==
In 1956 Paris, France, a young girl named Madeline (Hatty Jones) attends a Catholic boarding school, taught by the strict but loving nun Miss Clavel (Frances McDormand) and fed by the passionate French chef Hélène (Chantal Neuwirth). Madeline is an orphan, coming from neither family nor money, but maintains a positive attitude and is best friends with another girl, Aggie (Clare Thomas).
Early in the film, Madeline is stricken with appendicitis and taken to the hospital, where Madeline undergoes an appendectomy. During her stay there, Madeline meets Lady Covington (Stéphane Audran), the terminally ill wife of the school's board of trustee's member, Lord Covington (Nigel Hawthorne). Unlike her husband, Lady Covington is a kind-hearted person who cares deeply for the school and the girls, having attended the school herself in her youth. Lady Covington asks a favor of Madeline; she carved her birth name, Marie Gilbert, into one of the dorm's bed frames and she would like for Madeline to find out if her name is still there. Unfortunately, a few days later, when Madeline is ready to leave the hospital, she learns from Miss Clavel that Lady Covington has passed away. But, true to her promise, Madeline searches for her name under the beds, finding it under her own.
After her hospital stay, Madeline finds that the Spanish ambassador has purchased the property next door to the school and that he also has a son, Pepito (Kristian De La Osa), who is around Madeline's age. While the other girls are smitten with Pepito, Madeline is irritated by the noise created by the boy riding around on his Vespa. Shortly after the ambassador's arrival, Lord Covington announces he plans on closing the school due to the death of his wife.
Miss Clavel, unnerved by Pepito's bothering her girls, attempts to make peace with the boy by giving his tutor, Leopold (Ben Daniels), a tool box for him, in hopes that it will distract him from his obnoxious ways. However, her actions are unsuccessful as Pepito steals Madeline's drawing pad and write "Beware" with a vicious drawing in it before inviting the girls to his birthday party. During the party, Pepito tries to unnerve his guests by showing them a mouse but is unsuccessful in unnerving Madeline. Pepito threatens to kill the mouse, either by feeding him to his snake or executing him using a guillotine he made using the tool box he'd received as a gift from Miss Clavel. Madeline, angered by Pepito's threats to harm the tiny animal, brutally attacks him and releases all of his mice, causing guests to flee in horror and Miss Clavel to faint, which results in the girls' visit getting cut short, much to Pepito's delight. On the way back to the school, Madeline takes Pepito's keys in an act of revenge.
While out on a daily walk, Madeline accidentally falls into the Seine while standing on the ledge of a bridge going over the river. She is rescued by a stray dog, whom she names Genevieve, and emerges from the ordeal relatively unscathed, save for a cold. While sick in bed, Madeline is displeased to watch Leopold teach Pepito, frustrated over the loss of his keys, how to start his scooter with a paper clip. However, her anger disperses when she discovers that Genevieve has followed her to the school and convinces Miss Clavel who has dog allergies to let her golden haired savior live in the shed. Wanting to save the school Madeline forms an alliance with Pepito, enlisting his help to sabotage Lord Covington's attempts to sell the property but her efforts are ultimately discovered by Lord Covington, who initially blames Miss Clavel. Madeline takes responsibility for her involvement, though Lord Covington is unmoved by her apology or the motivation behind her actions when she makes a Freudian slip and calls him "Cucuface" and, after leaving, he turns Genevieve loose into the night in an act of retaliation against her and the girls.
Upset over the loss of Genevieve, Miss Clavel takes the girls to a circus in hopes of cheering them up and Madeline, fearing she'll have no place to go as an orphan once the school closes, makes the decision to join the circus, hoping to make friends and find a home within the community there. After telling Aggie of her plans and making her swear not to tell, Madeline leaves the group and unintentionally stumbles upon Leopold, with the help of a trio of clowns known as "The Idiots," kidnapping Pepito, hoping to hold him from ransom, and, while trying to intervene, is abducted as well. Luckily, Leopold and the Idiots leave the two children alone with a motorcycle, which Madeline uses her hair clip to start and convinces Pepito to drive, though he is initially reluctant as he drives a Vespa. The two are pursued by Leopold and the Idiots but Miss Clavel, having learned of Madeline's running away from Aggie, goes driving in search of her (finding and picking up Genevieve along the way) and, narrowly avoiding a collision with the two children on the bike, is able to cause the Idiots to crash into a lake. The police arrive and arrest the kidnappers.
Back at the school, Lord Covington appears and happily shares that he's sold the property to the ambassador of Uzbekistan. Madeline realises that Lord Covington is merely trying to sell the school. He at first dismisses her sympathy but Madeline speaks earnestly to Lord Covington about her own family being gone and says that Lady Covington is still with him and with the school and Miss Clavel, knowing Madeline is fearful of having no one if the school were to shut down, assures her that they'll be together, regardless of what happens. While Lord Covington is moved by Madeline's words and sincerity, he regretfully tells her and the girls that there's nothing he can do as he's already sold the property but, in a happy twist, the ambassador, also moved by Madeline, decides to back out of the sale. Hélène decides to celebrate by fixing a vegetarian feast, to which Madeline responds and that she wants Chicken Hélène, with the girls squawking in agreement, only to be interrupted by the sudden arrival of Lord Covington. The film then concludes with a montage accompanied by "What a Wonderful World", and then changes back to a book setting, as the French word, "fin" appears.
== Cast ==
=== The children ===
* Hatty Jones as Madeline
* Kristian De La Osa as Pepito
* Clare Thomas as Aggie
* Bianca Strohmann as Victoria
* Rachel Dennis as Lucinda
* Eloise Eonnet as Sylvette
* Morgane Farcat as Marie-Odile
* Pilar Garrard as Beatrice
* Emilie Jessula as Elizabeth
* Alice Lavaud as Veronica
* Christina Mangani as Chantal
* Jessica Mason as Serena
* Alix Ponchon as Lulu
=== The adults ===
* Frances McDormand as Miss Clavel
* Nigel Hawthorne as Lord "Cucuface" Covington
* Stéphane Audran as Lady Marie-Gilberte Covington
* Arturo Venegas as Mr. Spanish Ambassador
* Katia Caballero as Mrs. Spanish Ambassador
* Katia Tchenko as Mrs. Uzbekistani Ambassador
* Chantal Neuwirth as Hélène the cook
* Ben Daniels as Leopold the tutor
* Emil Abossolo-Mbo as Circus Barker
* Julien Maurel as Idiot Popovov no. 1
* George Harris as Mr. Liberian Ambassador
== Development ==
Filming took place in Paris, where the story is set, from September 1997 to January 1998, with English actress Hatty Jones, then 8 or 9 years, cast as the main character. Unlike the books, the film takes place in 1956, not 1939.[4] Many of the landmarks from the books appear in the film, although some were too crowded with modern traffic to be used.[5]
The film's costume department went for some artistic licence in developing the costumes for Madeline. Aside from moving the time period from the 1930s to 1950, the producers elected for saturated blues and reds in the students' uniforms while keeping them as believable as possible, ruling out the possibility of using grey as it was seen as depressing. Similar considerations were made for Frances McDormand's character, a novice nun who, according to research, would have worn a short black habit; a softer blue habit similar to the one worn by Miss Clavel in the books was used instead.[6]
While largely based on the original series, with storylines from three of the picture books weaved into the plot, several liberties were taken with the characters' backstories. Notably, Madeline is depicted as an orphan in the film, while in the books, she receives a dollhouse from her father and is known not only to have both her parents but siblings as well.[7][8][9]
== Reception ==
This film received mixed to positive reviews upon release; it now has 62% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 29 reviews.[10] On their TV show, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert awarded the film with "Two Thumbs Up" (see photo of film). Nell Minow of Common Sense Media said that the movie was "great for young kids and fans of the books."[11] AOL movie critic Brandon Judell said of it, "No horribly arch double entendres to draw in audiences who can't spend two hours in a theater without having their libido massaged." Jeffery Huston called it "a disarming, charming fable so artfully crafted that adults will fall under its spell." Conversely, John R. McEwen gave a negative review, stating that the movie was: "...Adequately simple for children, though perhaps a bit pedestrian for adults." A similarly negative review was given by Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post, stating that "their 8-year-old daughters will less likely be impressed by the meandering story, dull visuals and flat characterizations."[12]
== Home video ==
Madeline was released on VHS, part of the Columbia TriStar Family Collection series, and DVD on December 15, 1998.
== Discrepancies ==
For reasons not entirely clear, the movie has a lot of significant discrepancies from both the books and TV series as follows:
* Madeline is depicted as a redhead in the series, whereas in the film she has light brown/strawberry blonde hair.
* In the dining room where the breaking bread routine takes place, the girls are shown eating full dinners consisting of lamb and vegetables, but in the series, they are shown to eat croissants or bread rolls on a regular basis while breaking their bread.
* In the series, it is very clear that the girls are from various ethnic backgrounds, while in the film, the girls all appear to be British in origin. There are also several name changes, with names sounding more British in origin, compared to more French in the TV series, not to mention British accents instead of French accents in the TV series.
* Lord Cucuface is renamed Lord Covington and his role is expanded. In the series, he appears to be merely a superintendent of sorts, while in the film, his grandmother-in-law opened the school and his late wife was a student and benefactress. Madeline still calls him Lord Cucuface both behind his back and on one occasion, directly to his face. He is not as naïve as he appears to be in the TV series either (example: believing that the girls could play instruments, but in reality they had only just recently discovered them in the attic).
* Lord Covington is depicted as having a wife, but in the TV series, it is unclear if Lord Cucuface is married, divorced, a widower or a bachelor, let alone a father of children.
* In the series, Lord Cucuface intended to sell the old house after it was deemed too old and too dangerous, although they soon had it repaired, whereas in the film, Lord Covington sells the old house after his wife's death.
* In the movie, the girls and Pepito pull numerous pranks on the old house by unhinging doors, igniting firecrackers, leaving out stinky cheese and other things to dissuade Lord Covington from selling the school, but in the TV series, Lord Cucuface visited on a rainy day along with Madame Baguette and Madame Fromage; however, the old house was falling apart due to broken planks, a broken shutter, leaky roof, leaky taps and squeaky doors and after Madame Baguette had an accident when she slid down the banister and thus causing a large crash, Lord Cucuface announced that he was selling the old house because in his own words, it was "too old and too dangerous", despite the objections of the girls and Miss Clavel's suggestions of fixing it.
* Pepito uses a guillotine to execute a mouse and proceeds to feed it to a snake for lunch, but in the TV series, he used the guillotine to decapitate poultry for eating in "Madeline and the Bad Hat".
* Miss Clavel is portrayed as allergic to dogs, hence her sneezing, but in the TV series, she has nothing of the sort.
* In the famous scene where Madeline accidentally falls into the Seine, she stands on the bridge to justify her actions towards Pepito at his birthday party to the girls when they are angry at her, but in "Madeline's Rescue", there was no animosity and in fact, she fell into the Seine out of careless tomfoolery.
* The girls are portrayed as eating chicken and soon turning into vegetarians, but in the TV series, it was Pepito who ate chicken and subsequently became a vegetarian.
* Pepito appears to be somewhat older than the girls and in place of a "hat" he drives a Vespa motorcycle. Unlike the TV series, where he reforms after one of his mischievous pranks goes wrong (involving a group of dogs and a cat), he appears to reform sometime during/after the scene where the girls pull various pranks at the old house. He also has a "tutor" in the film, who is absent in the series.
* A lot of Pepito's mischief has been exaggerated, compared to the TV series. For instance, in the scene when the girls are in the kitchen and attempting to cook themselves, he wears a hideous red demon mask and frightens all of the girls, making some of them scream, but in "Madeline at Cooking School", he helped the girls to cook lunch for Lord Cucuface, because Mrs. Murphy, the usual cook/housekeeper, had fallen ill due to the flu.
* Pepito frightened the girls in the form of a white ghost on a hot summer night when they were toasting marshmallows around a campfire in "Madeline and the Bad Hat".
* In the scene of Pepito's birthday party, the girls' visit is cut short when Madeline releases the mice from a cage in Pepito's menagerie and everything erupts into chaos, including a physical fight between Madeline and Pepito, forcing Miss Clavel to make them leave without having any birthday cake and write out "I will control my temper" a number of times as punishment, but that never happened in the TV series at all: in the episode Madeline in London, Madeline, Miss Clavel and the girls visited Pepito in London after he had moved there with his parents and they celebrated his birthday in a celebratory way, had a large party consisting of a large cake and many treats and they gave him a retired horse as a birthday present, whom he named Piccadilly, perhaps after the London street of the same name.
* In the film, Madeline is a lot more outgoing, confident and somewhat of a leader, compared to her slightly more demure character in the series. She is also given a different backstory, where she is made an orphan, while the original books and TV series provides her with parents, notably in the eponymous pilot episode and Madeline's Christmas.[7] The scene with the girls in the hospital room visiting Madeline makes this clear: in the book and aforementioned pilot episode, she has a dollhouse from "Papa", but in the film, Vicki explains that the toys are for "charity cases". Madeline: Lost in Paris re-establishes her as an orphan in the series.
* Genevieve in the book/TV series is depicted as a chocolate-brown mongrel, while the film appears to have her as a Labrador Retriever with a blonde coloring.
* While the TV series is somewhat unclear on whether Miss Clavel is a nun, nurse, boarding house "mother" or similar (she is neither called Sister nor Mother Clavel), the movie does make it quite clear that she is a nun. She also appears to have a soft spot for Madeline, treating her like her own daughter. Unlike her wholly optimistic TV counterpart, the film version does display signs of realism (and allows Madeline some leverage).
* The cook is Mrs. Murphy in the series, but renamed Helene in the film.
* The movie was banned in Russia until 2008 because Leopold, Pepito's tutor, was a Soviet Spy trying to kidnap Pepito to get money and to make Spain a Communist country.
* The pilot episode of the TV series does not specify if or when Madeline was released from the hospital, but the movie depicts her as being released from the hospital and taken home to the vine-covered old house by Miss Clavel and Helene, just as the Spanish Ambassador moves in next door, an event that did not occur until "Madeline and the Bad Hat".
* Dr. Cohn, the physician in the TV series, was replaced by a pair of orderlies and a stretcher to pick up Madeline when she had appendicitis.
* When Miss Clavel and the girls go to the funfair, which ends with in a thunderstorm and thus forcing them to go back to the old house, Madeline runs away to join the circus, only to get kidnapped along with Pepito by two clowns and Leopold, but in the TV series, Madeline and Pepito were unintentionally left behind on the ferris wheel in the rain and they were well looked after by the gypsies and the circus performers.
* Miss Clavel is more confident in driving a car, whereas in the episode Madeline and the Big Cheese, she is not a confident driver.
* When the girls are visiting the famous Louvre, they are seen with sketch pads and Madeline retrieves her pad from Pepito, only to see hideous drawings and a threatening message "BEWARE!", but in the TV series, they visited the Louvre after Madeline had painted a picture of the old house and the workers at the gallery claimed it as their own after she accidentally left it behind - Pepito was not even present in that episode.
* Detective Moreau was replaced by some policemen when they came to arrest Leopold and the other culprits who abducted Pepito and Madeline from the circus.
==References==