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Movie Review: Netflix’s Damsel

Synopsis

A young woman agrees to marry a handsome prince—only to discover it was all a trap. She is thrown into a cave with a fire-breathing dragon and must rely solely on her wits and will to survive.

Genres/Categories

YA, High Fantasy

Trigger Warnings

Death, sacrifice, animal death, gore, explicit body burning, injury, violence.

My Thoughts on Damsel

I wanted to write about Damsel immediately after soaring through it on the day of its release. But I didn’t. Instead, I decided to let my thoughts simmer a bit.

Damsel is NOT based on its namesake novel by Evelyn Skye. The screenplay came first, the novel later.

So it is the primary subversion of the age-old “Damsel in Distress” trope imploring many to consider that sometimes women can save themselves—pretty fitting for March, aka Women’s History Month too.

While I haven’t read the novel, I’ve pored over many reviews of it to know that it’s intriguing.

Let’s consider the movie.

I loved Millie Bobbie Brown’s acting. Having devoured Enola Holmes and a bit of Stranger Things, I know there’s no role she can’t conquer.

The focus on sisterhood and the other characters’ performances—though only minor elements of the movie—were delightful to watch. The dragon, in my opinion, was the best part. Damsel is a great addition to your Netflix & Chill list.

But, as an avid reader and film-watcher, I had to consider the movie from a critical perspective—and I found several aspects that could be improved upon.

what Damsel did Wrong

World-Building

Okay, hear me out. I know Elodie’s stuck in a cave for most of the movie to have world-building but perhaps having some world-building would have made the story believable.

Isn’t it weird that three royals were sacrificed every generation for almost 800 years and word never got out? There’s no doubt that those of royal blood are always in contact with each other, and the common crowd always has their ears perked up for any morsel of gossip too.

It’s hard to take in the fact that there weren’t even any coincidental encounters that raised suspicion. And, the other girls who were sacrificed—what about their families? Why hadn’t they ever wondered about the lack of contact with them? Didn’t they bother to check up on them?

Maybe Damsel could have been better if it was a limited series, allowing more time for the story to be fleshed out and embrace the three-act structure.

Character Design

Elodie character is no doubt the ‘Chosen One’ with a sprinkle of ‘The Reluctant Hero’ trope. I can’t also help thinking that she’s the ‘Mary Sue’—that somehow she was created to appear flawless.

That didn’t pan out though.

Why do I think so?

Well, at the beginning of the movie, she’s described as honest and witty. That her beauty knows no bounds.

Everything works out in the start. She manages to impress her future in-laws and husband-to-be. She makes her family proud.

Yet, she didn’t once question her stepmother’s sudden distress over the new family, or Prince Henry’s facial expressions for that matter (they were like he’d eaten a stale cinnamon roll).

And those creepy masks? Everyone knows that a group of people wearing creepy masks are up to no good.

She didn’t suspect anything until she was thrown into the dragon’s abode. Her head was clouded by one interaction with Prince Henry.

It seemed like the creation of her character was done hastily, with no clear intention beyond self-preservation.

The Feministic Point of View

I’m a feminist. It’s clear the movie creators were going for a feministic view—that a woman doesn’t need saving. But the movie didn’t have much of an impact on me in that context.

The fact that only Elodie survived because she decided to fight against the dragon, and use her ‘wit’ seemed like an attack on all the other sacrificed women.

They tried to fight too but eventually lost their lives. It was evident from all their names on the wall, and the very meticulously created map. I’m sure they possessed qualities that were similar to, if not better than Elodie’s.

This is where the entire movie fell apart for me. What exactly was the message?