Berlin - Cinderella and Prince Charming met on an equal footing Friday at the Berlin film festival in a modern retelling of the fairy tale by Kenneth Branagh, with Cate Blanchett as a gambling, hard-drinking Wicked Stepmother.
"Cinderella", a Disney production, has been dubbed a "feminist" live-action twist on the story of a girl's dreams coming true.
Lily James, 25, of the "Downton Abbey" television series, plays the orphaned young woman who becomes virtually enslaved by her cruel stepmother and stepsisters.
Branagh said that he wanted to adapt the traditional tale in which a handsome prince whisks her away from a life of drudgery to become his queen and tell a story of love between equals.
He said the aim was to "make the prince a sort of charismatic complement to Cinderella, someone who earns the right to her affection where both meet not knowing who the other is and on equal terms".
The pair first encounter each other while riding on horseback through the forest and a comedy of mistaken identity ensues which Branagh said was reminiscent of the Shakespeare plays he has filmed in the past.
He said the Cinderella story "continues to capture our imaginations" but said he was "surprised to be quite so moved" when taking a closer look at the story, which begins with the "first experience of loss by a child".
"It's possible that the myth has hung around across every culture, across thousands of years because it is flexible and adaptable to the time in which it's presented," Branagh, 54, said.
AFP
