Dear reader, that is what it feels like! Although I know it isn’t true. After having been moved out of my parent’s house for almost a year, a few months ago I finally bought my own DVD player! For some reason, this more than anything else cemented the fact that I live on my own. Does that sound silly? Maybe it’s the fact that anytime I wanted to watch a movie at my parent’s house I had to either A) Wait until my parents weren’t at home or B) Ask if they wanted to watch it with me because it was their TV and their DVD player. I’m sure after my brother moved out I could have bought my own and set it up in his old room, but somehow that never occured me. I did, however, buy my own recliner and create a reading nook for myself in a corner of his old room, which tells you everything you need to know about my priorities!

Truth me told, I’m still not a big movie watcher, even with my own magical DVD player and TV! I feel like I watched the normal amount of movies growing up just like every other 90’s kid, so I really can’t explain where my preference for books over movies started, but it has always been that way. With that said, once I successfully hooked up my DVD player – with help from my coworkers! – that didn’t stop me from requesting several movies in rapid succession! The movies I’ll be talking about today are mostly those that were recommended to me from others. You see, dear reader, I’ve always been out of touch with what movies are cool and new, so I had to ask others what they’ve been watching lately! Luckily my sister-in-law and brother are big movie watchers so they are always a treasure trove of recommendations! They also have this magical thing called multiple streaming services! Something I refuse to indulge in myself because no matter how many you have, dear reader, there will always be one you don’t! So what is the point, I ask you? One of my coworkers recently shared an article that talked about how the lending of DVDS from local libraries is on the rise due to many streaming services becoming more expensive while simultaneously dropping titles and series. It’s just one more way that libraries are staying relevant and helping people to save money

Ever After

A ‘modern’ young woman of the 16th century, Danielle is as independent and wise as she is beautiful and kind. Against remarkable odds, she stands up to her scheming stepmother and works miracles on the lives around her, including the prince of France.

Dear reader, this movie came recommended to me by not one, but several people! My sister-in-law even said it is one of her comfort movies, and after watching it I agree! There was something about the setting and the characters that drew me in, especially Danielle’s character, of course. Her ability to see the positivity in every situation was notable too. When I was telling my sister-in-law how much I enjoyed watching the movie, I even had to share a quote from it with her that I had found particularly striking. It comes when Danielle goes uncover as a noble lady – and it won’t be the last time, either! – to try to release the husband of a servant who has been imprisoned. While she is confronting the cargomaster who is leading the team of the prison cart the prince walks up and asks why Maurice, the husband, should be released. Danielle replies, “If you suffer your people to be ill-educated, and their manners corrupted from infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded, sire, but that you first make thieves and then punish them?”

Throughout this movie I even felt some affinity for Danielle’s step sister, Jacqueline, who, unlike her sister, Marguerite, is neglected by her mother and often left in Marguerite’s shadow, deemed the ‘ugly sister’ while Marguerite is pampered and preened for an advantageous marriage. I even found myself wondering, after we learn what kind of person the Baroness Rodmilla de Ghent – Danielle’s stepmother – is, why her father would have married her in the first place. What did he see in her? Maybe she was successful enough in hiding her true self and opinions, revealing them only once he was gone and she had full control of the estate.

There is another poignant scene in which Danielle confronts the Baroness, asking why she has never liked her, telling the Baroness she is the only mother she has ever had yet this is how she is treated. The Baroness responds with “how can anyone love a pebble in their shoe”? How heartrending! One feels a strong affinity with Danielle after such a scene. It also exposes the depth of evil in the Baroness.

Over the year I’ve bought very few movies, but Ever After is one I am strongly considering finding a copy of to add to my small but now slowly growing movie collection!

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