Millie Bobby Brown stars in the new Netflix film Damsel, where she plays a princess or “damsel” who marries a prince to save her kingdom. Unbeknownst to her, on the prince’s side, the marriage is transactional as they use her to repay an ancient debt. Left for dead in a cave that houses a fire-breathing dragon, she’s forced to use her wits and resourcefulness to survive.
Damsel is what happens when film studios listen to their audiences. The younger groups like Gen Z all but demand change in their content, craving diversity like one would crave sustenance while starving. Here, we have a beautiful period piece without the typical racist facets that come with it. It was extremely refreshing. Even the dialogue was different, as both Elodie (Millie Bobby Brown) and her sister Floria (Brooke Carter) referred to Lady Bayford (Angela Bassett) as stepmother, a term one would never hear in this era.
With direction from Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, Princess Elodie was given in matrimony to Prince Henry (Nick Robinson), on the surface, to aid her people. The land she’s from was in a deep freeze with scarce resources. On the other end, Queen Isabelle (Robin Wright) was making plans to sacrifice her to the dragon to repay a centuries-old debt. The term “trust Black women” immediately came to mind as nobody could sense something bad was happening except for Angela Bassett’s character Lady Bayford. But without any support, her caution was blown to the wind and Elodie’s family went about their way.
To keep the suspense near its peak, there was a good delay before the dragon was revealed. The storyline was solid and will keep audiences engaged as there’s a lot to take in. The trailer is excellent, as it shows the excitement that awaits you in this one-hour and 47-minute fantasy but doesn’t ruin the film. To be frank, all anyone knows from the trailer is that the girl from Stranger Things gets thrown into a cave with a dragon. But what you’ll discover after viewing this in its entirety is that Angela Bassett is “muva” and Robin Wright is the gift that keeps on giving.
An underrated quality of Damsel is the intricate detail that went into building the set. The castle and grounds of Aurea (the kingdom Elodie and her family travel to) were modeled after Manueline architecture, a post-gothic style unique to Portugal that you don’t often see in big-budget films. The
main palace was inspired by castles in Sintra. It mirrors locations like Tomar and Batalha and spaces like the mountains of Serra da Estrela. The same amount of care and detail went into the caves’ design. They were a big hit with Millie Bobbie Brown, who had a lot to say about them.
They were wonderfully designed, very complex, and very tactile. Everything felt real. It’s really unbelievable,” she said during a press round-up. “We filmed in these warehouses in London. And when you walked in, you truly felt immersed. There was no faking it. There’s no green screen. I’ll add this — it wasn’t fun going into them. But I thought, ‘Elodie hates going onto them. Elodie doesn’t want to be here.’ It was hard running through them. It was hard falling in them. It was hard to scream because nobody could hear you. You couldn’t see anything. Everything felt so real. So, I loved the caves as an actor, but hated them as Elodie.”
Millie Bobbie Brown
Damsel gets an 8.5 out of 10. You’re in for a treat with this one. It’s refreshing to see new content that’s rated PG-13 and actually fits the bill. All too often we see films that push the envelope and find PG-13 that probably should be rated R. But this is the closest you’re gonna get to an old school, fantasy tale about royalty, kingdoms, and dragons. Its unique approach to the “damsel in distress” theme is what makes it stand out and more fun to watch.
Damsel will premiere on Friday, March 8, on Netflix
-Jon Jones
Photos: Courtesy of Netflix