[film] Maleficent (31-May-14)
Sunday, June 1st, 2014 05:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tamaranthI was fascinated by the idea of Angelina Jolie as archetypal fairytale villain: I didn't expect such a delightful, witty, feminist story.
Maleficent, a joyful winged fairy-creature, used to have a Thing with Aurora's father Stephan. Then he abandoned her for human life (which abandonment she accepted with graceful melancholy, and then got on with her life).
Then he came back and cut off her wings.
That is the point at which she vows vengeance on Stephan and his offspring. (And I couldn't help wondering whether Jolie found parallels with her recent double mastectomy -- though that was choice, not forced upon her.)
Cue vengeance, and the curse bestowed upon little Aurora. Cue Maleficent sneaking around, keeping an eye on the brat -- which she calls 'beastie' -- and not letting it fall off cliffs or starve to death, because that would spoil the curse. (The three pixie 'aunts' are actually not at all good at this child-rearing lark.
Then Aurora, now a teenager, decides that Maleficent is actually her fairy godmother. ("What," says Maleficent, aghast.) And they bond.
But lo! there is a Prince ...
I won't discuss the climax of the film except to say that I was really really hoping they'd do what they did.
Much argument afterwards as to whether Maleficent's love for Aurora is maternal and if so whether this makes the film non-feminist. I didn't see it as maternal, at least not in the traditional sense: Maleficent only starts to take an interest in Aurora when the girl starts to become a person.
Kudos to the makeup department, for Maleficent's cheekbones and horns and eyes, and for her factotum Diaval's interesting scarification. I liked Diaval (Sam Riley) a lot: he starts off as a raven, but Maleficent saves him from a grisly fate and transforms him into a bolshy Goth bloke with Attitude. Except when he's a bolshy wolf, or an alarmingly feathery horse, or ... something else.
Suspect I'd have got more out of the film if I'd been familiar with the original Sleeping Beauty film: but I didn't feel I was missing anything essential. Maleficent is a beautiful film, Jolie is a thoroughly compelling presence, and the story is an enthralling remix of the traditional fairy tale, with a happy ending that doesn't require a handsome prince.
Maleficent, a joyful winged fairy-creature, used to have a Thing with Aurora's father Stephan. Then he abandoned her for human life (which abandonment she accepted with graceful melancholy, and then got on with her life).
Then he came back and cut off her wings.
That is the point at which she vows vengeance on Stephan and his offspring. (And I couldn't help wondering whether Jolie found parallels with her recent double mastectomy -- though that was choice, not forced upon her.)
Cue vengeance, and the curse bestowed upon little Aurora. Cue Maleficent sneaking around, keeping an eye on the brat -- which she calls 'beastie' -- and not letting it fall off cliffs or starve to death, because that would spoil the curse. (The three pixie 'aunts' are actually not at all good at this child-rearing lark.
Then Aurora, now a teenager, decides that Maleficent is actually her fairy godmother. ("What," says Maleficent, aghast.) And they bond.
But lo! there is a Prince ...
I won't discuss the climax of the film except to say that I was really really hoping they'd do what they did.
Much argument afterwards as to whether Maleficent's love for Aurora is maternal and if so whether this makes the film non-feminist. I didn't see it as maternal, at least not in the traditional sense: Maleficent only starts to take an interest in Aurora when the girl starts to become a person.
Kudos to the makeup department, for Maleficent's cheekbones and horns and eyes, and for her factotum Diaval's interesting scarification. I liked Diaval (Sam Riley) a lot: he starts off as a raven, but Maleficent saves him from a grisly fate and transforms him into a bolshy Goth bloke with Attitude. Except when he's a bolshy wolf, or an alarmingly feathery horse, or ... something else.
Suspect I'd have got more out of the film if I'd been familiar with the original Sleeping Beauty film: but I didn't feel I was missing anything essential. Maleficent is a beautiful film, Jolie is a thoroughly compelling presence, and the story is an enthralling remix of the traditional fairy tale, with a happy ending that doesn't require a handsome prince.
