Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Lily James, Helena Bonham Carter, Richard Madden, Stellan Skarsgård, Nonso Anozie, Sophie McShera, Holiday Grainger, Derek Jacobi, Ben Chaplin, Hayley Atwell, Rob Brydon, Jana Perez, Alexander MacQueen, Tom Edden, Gareth Mason, Paul Hunter, Eloise Webb, Joshua McGuire, Matthew Steer, Mimi Ndiweni, Laura Elsworthy, Ella Smith, Ann Davies, Gerard Horan, Katie West, Daniel Tuite, Anjana Vasan, Stuart Neal, Adetomiwa Edun, Richard McCabe, Joseph Kloska, Andy Apollo, Craig Mather, Jonny Owen-Last, Nari Blair-Mangat, Michael Jenn, Josh O’ Connor.
Cinderella is one of the oldest fairy-tales on record, handed down like a child’s toy and loved by all who see it performed on stage or has even seen it in many of guises on the big screen, including Jerry Lewis’ particularly haphazard version, Cinderfella, in 1960.
Cinderella is, and always will be, a fantastic story, the ultimate rags to riches and in which being kind will always trump the shadow of cruelty and yet does there need to be another version of it, no matter how great the cast, how incredible the man behind the camera and just how sumptuous the whole film feels?
Cinderella is without question beautifully shot, artistically great, the finest version of it ever captured on film, costumes wise almost unsurpassed and a par with Gone With the Wind, lovingly directed and deserves to be well thought of. However it is beautiful, sumptuous fluff, the plumped up cinematic pillow in which to wallow and you know will turn out right. Not because you are aware of the story, of which should have been seen or read by the vast majority of the world, to the point where even bears in Peru are fully aware of who Cinderella is but because Lily James is just too nice an actor, to have anything truly awful happen to. It is the eiderdown upon which fairy tales are based upon and to have the great Sir Kenneth Branagh bring it to the screen is enough to want to love it, yet fluff can coagulate, it can leave an aftertaste, like eating a whole bag of marshmallows in one sitting without even contemplating the whole menu.
Lily James certainly excels in the role and she is also supported by some great quality actors who also play their part, even though their role is on the small side. Paul Hunter is painfully underused and certainly deserved better, as do Hayley Atwell, Alexander MacQueen, Sir Derek Jacobi and Ben Chaplin. In Cate Blanchett, one of the most accomplished actors of her generation, one who can turn any emotion on a sixpence and be seen to fill the screen with a single look of disdain, the performance as Cinderella’s step mother is one that feels flat, almost if she is reining something back, some huge part of acting sincerity. It is a shame, for in Hayley Atwell and Ben Chaplin, so much more could have been made of their characters, in Cate Blanchett what could have been, can now never be and whilst again a stylish performance, there was no real meat behind it.
Meringues may be a great way to describe some dresses in the film, however to have the adage added to an actor’s character description is a sweet menu too far. Cinderella is lavish, unforgivably enjoyable but the after taste when you have left the film and walked away from the cinema is enough to have the thought of sugar being banned from any of your drinks for a while.
A film of persuasion, of belief being suspended and dipped into a chocolate fountain; as fairy tales go it is beautiful and Lily James is perfect, as films go, it’s decidedly below anything else that Sir Kenneth Branagh has ever put his name to.
A film to remember that cute and cuddly does work but not forever.
Ian D. Hall