The film that introduced us all to the wonder of Anne Hathaway, follows her characters transformation from socially outcast school-girl to empowered princess.
The second film I watched during my hangover hunkering down and convalescing from my copious drinking from last night is The Princess Diaries (2001). I mentioned earlier that I wanted something simple, something easy on the eyes and mind, and you can’t get any simpler than this. I have man fond memories of this film from when I was a child and only had a handful of VHS tapes to satisfy my cinematic hunger with which led me to rewatching this film countless times. This was the first time I rewatched this film since I was 5 and oh lord is it just as good as I remember it. I don’t know whether it’s the nostalgia or whether it’s a genuinely good film, but whichever one it is, here’s my needless ramble about it.
A little twist on the rags-to-riches tale, turns this into regular-to-royalty as socially awkward and outcasted Mia Thermopolis learns from her grandmother, who is also the Queen of some made up country in Europe called Genovia, that she’s a princess and must join the royal family. What follows is Mia’s transforms from a ball of frizz into a princess and as she shows all the prissy bitches at school what for. Behind her physical transformation is an emotional one too, coming into her own and standing up for herself, taking no guff from any of the swines she’s surrounded by. It’s a story of empowerment, of knowing who to trust and who not to. We as the audience see right through the hazy façade of some of the obnoxiously uptight characters that continually bully Mia, but she, blinded by her self-consciousness and thick skull falls right into their trap several times, but we see her evolve and gain the same x-ray vision we have on some of the clowns in her town.
With the ups and downs in her life, having the film set in strangely hilly San Francisco is perfect, where even her car can’t drive up some of the steep hills. I’m probably reading too much into this but I kind of got the impression that she was pushing a boulder up a hill and succeeded when she finally became a princess. This isn’t a spoiler by the way because you see it from a mile away, and anyway this film has been around for 20 years, if you haven’t seen it yet then that’s your problem my friend. Throughout the whole film she seems to be on the run from the paparazzi who manage to sniff her out like a shark torpedoing towards a swimmer who cut themselves on the reef. Where ever she runs, the weasel-like press close in on her. I couldn’t spot much visual mastery in the camera work apart from a few shots, one that sticks out is when Mia lets her best friend Lilly into the secret of her being a princess, Mia stood obscured by a tree while Lilly leans towards her to have her mind blown. As I said, it’s a simple film, don’t expect it to blow your mind like Mia’s royalty did to Lilly.
Apart from Mia and Lilly, there’s a whole cavalcade of supporting characters who are hilarious and constantly provide confidence and support to Mia. My favourite of them all is Joe, head of the queen’s security who has to chauffeur Mia around. His dialogue is in my opinion the best written and every time he’s on screen I found myself chuckling as loud as my sore throat could allow me to.
I’d honestly love to sit and unpick this film with a cinephiles eye and endlessly ramble on about the subtler themes such as trappings of monarchy, the toll of single parenting and the state of the art community in early 2000’s San Francisco but I have a splitting headache and I’m totally out of pharmaceuticals. So, there you have it, my reserved jabbering about a simple and pure film about a regular girl who becomes a princess. Watch it or not, it doesn’t affect me, unless you watching it somehow eases my hangover, in which case go watch it this instant and don’t take your eyes off the screen.
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