Penelope (2006)

Once upon a time, the rich, blue-blooded Wilherns were placed under a nasty curse after one of their cad sons got a servant girl pregnant and promptly dumped her.  Her mother, the town witch, wowed that every girl born into the Wilhern family from there on would look like a pig, until someone of her own kind accepts her and grows to love her for who she is (or words to that effect).

Fast forward many years later and it’s the unlucky Penelope (Christina Ricci) who gets saddled with the curse.  She has been seeing a seemingly endless supply of aristocratic marriage suitors, sought after to break the curse, for seven years with no luck. Every time she reveals her face they run away quick smart – through the second storey window.  She is that hideous.  Meanwhile, for the whole of her 25 years she has been locked up in the family mansion by her supposedly well-meaning mother, home-schooled, allowed no friends and, I presume, sunlight. Again, she is that hideous.

In comes Max Campion (James McAvoy), a young aristocrat fallen on hard times.  He is sent to the Wilherns as a plant by a paparazzo eager to get photos of Penelope and expose the family’s horrible secret. But, might Max be the one to break the curse?

Penelope is a modern-day fairy tale and a lovely departure from the usual Hollywood fare.  It’s a feel-good story set in a universal place and time governed only by a quirky sense of fantasy.  Set and costume designs are just gorgeous – rich and vibrant – think Amélie.

One slight problem with the film is Penelope’s supposed hideousness. Penelope is basically Christina Ricci with a snout, which is to say, an otherwise very pretty girl with a snout. On top of it, it is a perfectly proportioned, well-designed by the make-up people, dainty snout. The end effect is then not the monster all the characters seem to see, but a normal girl with a slightly strange nose. Trust me, I see people less attractive on public transport every day.  But, I do understand the filmmakers’ dilemma. Who would want to watch a hideously deformed Ricci for a good part of 90 minutes? I for one wouldn’t, so I am willing to let that one go.

I have a slightly bigger problem with the movie’s alleged message. You know, love thyself, accept thyself for who you are and don’t change for other people. Can they still claim ownership of that message when at the end (*spoiler alert for the inexperienced) as a result of learning to love her self, Penelope gets  a pretty, real-life Ricci nose? That is sort of betraying the core of that idea. Isn’t the point that you learn to love yourself as you are, the hero/heroin learns to love you as you are and you live happily every after – as you are? You know, just like in Shrek. Heck, even in the juvenile Shallow Hal, Gwyneth Paltrow remains “fat” in the end.

Aside from that, Penelope is a charming diversion for kids and adults (or at least it was for this adult) and it’s got a super cool cast too. (Aside from Ricci and the gorgeous McAvoy, there’s Richard E. Grant, Peter Dinklage and Reese Witherspoon.)