Netflix's Damsel Trailer Pits Stranger Things' Millie Bobby Brown Against A Dragon
There was a movie you may have heard of called "Damsel" that came out in 2018. Directed by the Zellner brothers (where did they go?), the film was a chopped-and-screwed riff on the Western, what was called by some a neo-Western, that followed its titular damsel, played by Mia Wasikowska, and her would-be white knight, a blubbering fool played by Robert Pattinson, across the American Southwest. The title was a knowing wink to the subversion of its story — the damsel in question was in fact much more capable than her rescuer, their shared adversary, and basically everyone else they encountered.
The new trailer for Millie Bobby Brown's latest venture with Netflix, also called "Damsel," seems to be doing the same thing. It's 2023! Women don't need to wait for white knights to save them. Like Brown in the first trailer for "Damsel," released today as part of Netflix's Geeked Week, female characters can pick up swords and slay dragons themselves. It's quite an old twist on the insidious myth that women are helpless weaklings in the face of danger — just read the title story of "The Bloody Chamber," Angela Carter's groundbreaking 1979 collection of twisted fairy tales, if you don't believe me.
But as a narrative twist, it's not too old or too overdone to take a fresh crack. And anyway, the tagline for this "Damsel" explicitly warns, "This is NOT a fairy tale." So perhaps we're in for something even more subversive.
Damsels are doing it for themselves
Despite the unambiguous dictate of the tagline, "Damsel" seems to employ most of the tropes of your average fairy tale. In the trailer, you can see a dragon, an evil (?) queen (Robin Wright), a contrasting good maternal figure (Angela Bassett), a battalion of horse-riding knights, an enchanting castle, a scary cave, and so on. The film was directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo ("28 Weeks Later"), written by Dan Mazeua ("Fast X"), and also stars Nick Robinson ("Love, Simon"). The synopsis reads as follows:
"A dutiful damsel agrees to marry a handsome prince, only to find the royal family has recruited her as a sacrifice to repay an ancient debt. Thrown into a cave with a fire-breathing dragon, she must rely on her wits and will to survive."
Interestingly, Brown never speaks in the trailer. That duty falls to Wright, who nobly intones, "For generations, it has been our task to protect our people. So tonight, you join a long line of women who have helped to build this kingdom. The price is dear, but so too the reward." If you're familiar with Brown it's likely from her breakthrough role as Eleven/Jane Hopper on "Stranger Things," also a Netflix joint. She proved herself a versatile and resourceful performer at a young age in that role, as she had very few lines of dialogue in the show's first season. Slowly, her character began to speak more as she ingratiated into polite society, but it seems the filmmakers behind "Damsel" wanted to utilize her potent non-verbal range as an actor.
So be it. "Damsel" promises to check every box for the fantasy-loving crowd, so if you want to see some good old dragon-slaying, stay tuned to discover when Netflix narrows down that "coming in 2024" release window.