Cinderella (2015 film)

―Ella to Kit

***Cinderella (2015)*** is a 2015 American-British live-action romantic fantasy film, directed by Kenneth Branagh and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The film was an adaptation of the fairy tale *Cendrillon* by Charles Perrault and while not a remake, is largely inspired by the 1950 animated film of the same name. It stars Lily James and Cate Blanchett as the titular character and the evil stepmother Lady Tremaine respectively. The film was released on March 13, 2015 and is theatrically accompanied by the short film *Frozen Fever*.

## Synopsis

*"After her father unexpectedly dies, young Ella (Lily James) finds herself at the mercy of her cruel stepmother (Cate Blanchett) and stepsisters, who reduce her to scullery maid. Despite her circumstances, she refuses to despair. An invitation to a palace ball gives Ella hope that she might reunite with the dashing stranger (Richard Madden) she met in the woods, but her stepmother prevents her from going. Help arrives in the form of a kindly beggar woman who has a magic touch for ordinary things."*

## Plot

Ella (Eloise Webb) lives with her wealthy parents on a beautiful estate in a peaceful kingdom. From a young age, she is taught by her mother (Hayley Atwell) to believe in the existence of magic, allowing her to befriend many animals on the estate, particularly the mice. Everything is perfect until her mother contracts an illness and dies. On her deathbed, she makes Ella promise that she will always have courage and show kindness to others.

Years later, when Ella (Lily James) is a teenager, her father (Ben Chaplin) marries Lady Tremaine (Cate Blanchett), the widow of an old acquaintance, who has two daughters of her own, Drisella (Sophie McShera) and Anastasia (Holliday Grainger). Ella welcomes her stepfamily warmly, despite the stepsisters' unpleasant attitudes and her needing to protect her mouse friends from her stepmother's cat, Lucifer.

Soon after, Ella's father goes abroad on business, promising his stepdaughters gifts of luxury. His own daughter merely asks for the first branch that brushes against his shoulder on the way. Sadly, he becomes ill and also dies. This new loss results in Lady Tremaine revealing her true cold, cruel, and jealous nature. Taking advantage of Ella's hospitality, she persuades her to give up her room for Drisella and Anastasia, presumably temporarily, while Ella retires to the attic with only her mouse friends to keep her company. Not long after her father's death, Lady Tremaine dismisses the servants, leaving only Ella to do their work. Relegated to nothing more than a servant, she is subjected to cruel mistreatment by her stepmother and stepsisters. She is forbidden to eat with them, and spitefully renamed "Cinderella" after waking covered with ashes from the fireplace.

Crushed by their cruelty, Ella goes for a ride into the woods, where she encounters a hunting party. She meets one of the hunters (Richard Madden), who claims to be an apprentice named Kit who lives in the palace. Unknown to her, he is actually the only son of the land's dying king (Derek Jacobi). Despite never learning her name, Kit (a nickname given to him by his father) is enchanted by Ella's charm, kindness, and unique outlook on life and becomes infatuated with her. Upon learning that he has little time left, the King insists that Kit finds a bride at an upcoming ball. Despite the law saying that he must marry a princess, Kit can't get over the mystery girl, and deals with his father into letting *every* eligible maiden in the land attend.

When the ball is announced, the Tremaine family is ecstatic at the prospect of marrying into royalty. However, when Lady Tremaine refuses to buy Ella a new dress, Ella fixes up an old dress of her mother's with help from her mice friends. On the night of the ball, Ella tries to join her stepfamily on the way out. But Lady Tremaine, claiming that her mere presence will disgrace them, leads her and Drisella into ripping up the dress before leaving without her. This seemingly breaks Ella's spirit, and she runs into the garden in tears. She encounters an old beggar woman, who reveals herself to be her Fairy Godmother (Helena Bonham Carter). The Fairy Godmother subsequently turns a pumpkin into a magnificent carriage, four mice into horses, two lizards into footmen, and a goose into a coachman. She then transforms Ella's dress into a gorgeous blue gown, complete with a delicate pair of glass slippers before sending her on her way with the warning that the spell only lasts until midnight.

At the ball, the entire court is entranced by Ella, especially Kit. She wins the coveted first dance with him, whose true identity she's pleasantly surprised to learn. This irritates the Grand Duke (Stellan Skarsgård), who secretly promised Kit to Princess Chelina of Zaragosa — a fact that Lady Tremaine overhears. After dancing, Ella and Kit tour the palace and grounds together, slowly falling in love. But before he can learn her name, the clock strikes 11:59, forcing her to flee and accidentally dropping one of her glass slippers at the palace stairs in the process. She manages to get away before the stroke of midnight and hides the other slipper in her room as a memento.

Soon after, the King dies, but not before giving his son permission to find his true love. Once it's announced that every maiden in the kingdom is to try on the slipper, Ella excitedly goes to her room to get the other slipper, only to find her stepmother waiting for her with it in her hand. Lady Tremaine, having figured out her identity from her attitude after the ball, demands that Ella make her the head of the royal household once she becomes queen. She also demands that Ella ensure Drisella and Anastasia get proper husbands as well. Ella refuses to let her stepmother underestimate her will, admitting that while she wasn't able to protect her father from her, she will protect the Prince no matter what becomes of her. Lady Tremaine smashes the slipper against the wall and locks her in the attic. She then brings the shattered shoe and the identity of the mystery girl to the Grand Duke, and strikes a deal with him in exchange, which would reward her with the title of a countess and worthy husbands for her daughters in exchange of keeping Ella away from the Prince (who is the new king). The Duke takes the shattered shoe to Kit, hoping to convince him to forget the mystery girl and marry Princess Chelina, but this makes him even more determined than ever to find his true love.

The Grand Duke and the captain of the guards (Nonso Anozie) lead a garrison to try the remaining slipper on all the maidens in the land, all of whom are rejected by its magic, before arriving at the Tremaine estate. When the slipper rejects both stepsisters, they turn to leave, only to hear Ella singing ("Lavender's Blue"), thanks to the mice opening her attic window. The Grand Duke tries to leave anyway, but one of the men reveals himself to be Kit in disguise, and demands that the captain investigate the sound. Once Ella is found, Lady Tremaine tries to forbid her from trying on the shoe, but is overruled by the Captain, who defends her. Ella tells Lady Tremaine that she has never been and never will be her mother before leaving the attic. She and Kit are finally reunited. Sure enough, the slipper fits perfectly and the stepsisters both plead for forgiveness. Ella graciously forgives her stepmother and leaves with Kit. Lady Tremaine later departs the kingdom with her daughters and the Grand Duke, never to return.

At their wedding, Kit and Ella are crowned as the new king and queen. The Fairy Godmother narrates that they become the land's most beloved monarchs, ruling with the courage and kindness Ella has promised her biological mother, and they lived happily ever after.

## Cast

* Lily James as Ella/Cinderella
	+ Eloise Webb as young Ella/Cinderella
* Richard Madden as Kit
* Cate Blanchett as Lady Tremaine
* Helena Bonham Carter as the Fairy Godmother
* Stellan Skarsgård as the Grand Duke
* Nonso Anozie as the Captain
* Holliday Grainger as Anastasia Tremaine
* Sophie McShera as Drisella Tremaine
* Derek Jacobi as the King
* Hayley Atwell as Ella's mother
* Ben Chaplin as Ella's Father
* Jana Pérez as Princess Chelina of Zaragosa
* Rob Brydon as Master Phineas
* Gerard Horan as Lord Veneering
* Alex MacQueen as Town Crier

## Differences

* In the original film, Cinderella first appears as a young girl. In the remake, she first appears as a baby.
* During the narration at the start of the original film, all characters were silent. In the remake, the narration extends a bit further in the film, but the characters were only silent while the narrator is talking.
* Ella's mother appears at the start of the remake, but later dies from an illness. In the original film, she doesn't appear at all.
* Ella's childhood is further explored in the remake.
* In the animated film, Cinderella's father meets Lady Tremaine when she and her stepsisters are little girls. In the remake, Lady Tremaine and Cinderella's father aren't married until Cinderella, Anastasia, and Drisella are grown women.
* The clock tower is smaller in the remake and has a large bell underneath the clock itself. It is also part of the gate leading into the kingdom.
* In the original film, Cinderella receives an invitation to the ball and gives the invitation to her stepfamily. In the remake, she instead listens to an announcement about the upcoming ball and delivers the news to her stepfamily.
	+ When Cinderella delivers the news, her stepfamily wasn't practicing music.
* Cinderella and Prince's eye colors are switched not like in original animated fillm.
* Lady Tremaine's Hair in original is Heart-shaped bun but in remake her hair is inspired by Late-Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe.
* In the original film, Anastasia and Drisella destroyed Cinderella's dress because they see their belongings sewed onto the dress. In the remake, Lady Tremaine and Drisella tear the dress because they don't want Cinderella to attend the ball on the reasons that her dress would be insulting in the presence of the King and those who are attending the ball as well causing humiliation on the part of the Tremaine family.
* The Prince and Ella have met prior to the ball taking place.
* The Prince is named Kit in the remake.
* In the remake, Ella had house servants before she became the sole housemaid.
* Lucifer, Jaq and Gus all have significantly reduced roles in this version.
	+ Jaq and Gus are silent characters in this film.
	+ Lucifer doesn't antagonize Ella, Jaq, and Gus in the remake.
	+ Ella's other animal friends also had reduced roles.
* Bruno doesn't appear in the remake.
* Jaq is female in the remake instead of male, and is also Gus's love interest.
* Unlike in the original, Ella's mice friends are only four and they never wear any clothes in the remake.
* The King's personality is less destructive and he never antagonizes the Grand Duke in the remake.
* The Fairy Godmother's appearance is different from the animated film. This time, she appears to be rather young and wears a white-and-silver dress with a pair of fairy wings rather than a blue cloak. However, she appears as an old hag before she transformed into a young, beautiful woman.
* When creating a carriage for Ella using a pumpkin, the Fairy Godmother turns Ella's mice friends into horses, a goose into a coachman, and two lizards into footmen (the latter is most common in traditional adaptations of the original story). In the original, she turns Ella's horse Major into a coachman and her dog Bruno into a footman.
	+ The pumpkin that the Fairy Godmother uses is inside a greenhouse instead of in a pumpkin patch.
		- Due to the pumpkin growing in the greenhouse until they both burst, the greenhouse was integrated with the pumpkin to create the coach.
		- The carriage is colored gold with glass instead of white, and the doors on both sides of the carriage are both double doors instead of single.
	+ When the carriage turns back into a pumpkin, it breaks upon hitting the ground. In the original, the pursuing knights crush it while chasing Ella.
* The Fairy Godmother also casts an additional spell that keeps Ella's stepfamily from discovering who she really is.
* While fleeing the castle, a footman closes the gate to stop the knights chasing the coach. In the original, the Grand Duke orders the gate closed to stop the coach but fails to do so in time, so he sends some knights after the coach and has the gate reopened.
	+ The Grand Duke takes part in the chase.
	+ The knights did not catch up to Ella after the Fairy Godmother's magic wears off (due to the fact that one of the lizard footmen pulled the lever that shuts the castle gate with his tail).
	+ In the remake, Ella notices her other glass slipper after returning to normal, which she uses to carry her mice friends. In the original film, her mice friends noticed it instead.
* Ella's dress is blue instead of silver. This is probably to reference the current color of Ella's ballgown in merchandising.
* Ella receives the Glass Slippers some time after her dress transformation in the remake; in the original, the slippers appeared on her feet during the transformation.
* The King's crown is not seen in the remake.
* The Grand Duke is an antagonist in the remake. He was good in the original.
	+ During the ball, he promised that Kit would marry Princess Chelina of Zaragoza.
	+ He allies himself with Lady Termaine sometime later in the film.
* When Ella enters the ballroom, everyone notices her. In the original, only the Prince, the King, and the Grand Duke see her upon her arrival.
* The Herald doesn't appear in the remake. The Captain instead replaces him while some of his roles were taken over by the Town Crier.
* Lucifer is gray instead of black.
* The King dies from an illness in the climax while in the original, he remains to be alive even in the ending in which Ella and the Prince get married.
* While Ella is heading home, it began to rain. This never happened in the original film.
* Lady Tremaine broke the Glass Slipper in the remake. In the original, she tripped the Herald to get the glass slipper broken, and Cinderella kept the other one revealing she is the owner. In *Cinderella III: A Twist in Time*, Lady Tremaine drops the other slipper and it broke on the ground.
	+ The glass slipper that Lady Tremaine broke was the one that Ella kept instead of the one that the Grand Duke had.
* Lady Tremaine was forced to set Cinderella free by the Captain of the Guards. In the original, Jaq and Gus set her free.
* Ella is her original name in the remake, like in the original fairy tale. She was called "Cinderella" by her stepfamily when she woke up one morning with her face coated in soot. In the original film, it was presumed that Cinderella was her actual name.
* Unlike the original film, this was not a musical. Although it featured Ella singing her mother's lullaby, "Lavender's Blue", and the cast singing the songs from the original during the credits.
* Ella and the Prince become the new king and queen after their marriage. This does not happen right away at the end of the original film.
* In the remake, Drisella and Anastasia apologizes to Cinderella but Lady Tremaine sits on stairs in defeat, but in the original she was shocked after Cinderella revealed that she has the other glass slipper.
* At the end of the film, it is mentioned that Lady Tremaine, her daughters, and the Grand Duke had left the kingdom. This didn't happen in the original film.

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