Synopsis:
The first king of Aurea leads a futile attack on a dragon residing in his realm. All the king's men are killed, leaving the king at the dragon's mercy.
Centuries later, Elodie, daughter of Lord Bayford, receives a proposal from Queen Isabelle of Aurea to marry Prince Henry. On Bayford's advice, Elodie accepts to help their impoverished people, and she and her family sail to Aurea. Upon meeting, Elodie and Henry initially both seem uninterested in each other, but begin to bond as they share a desire to travel. Elodie’s stepmother, Lady Bayford, seeks out the queen, hoping to strengthen their familial bond, but Isabelle rebuffs attempts to become acquainted, leading Lady Bayford to futilely implore Elodie to end the engagement.
After the wedding, Elodie and Henry take part in an ancient ritual in the mountains, supposedly to celebrate their union. The queen, dressed as a priestess, describes the pact between the first king and the dragon, where he had to sacrifice his three daughters for peace. Following a ceremony where their hands are cut and held together, Henry insists on carrying Elodie across the narrow path over the dragon's lair, then throws her into the chasm.
Elodie recovers from the fall, realizing that she is the actual sacrifice. While finding a way out, the dragon enters the lair and taunts her before chasing Elodie and burning her leg. After escaping the beast, Elodie discovers an illuminated cave with glowing slugs, which she collects as a light source. The dragon finds her again. Upon fleeing, Elodie reaches a chamber with the note "Safe Here She Cannot Reach", the names of past victims and a map carved into the wall. While Elodie sleeps, the glowing slugs heal the burn on her leg.
Elodie follows the map, but it leads to a dead end at a high vertical drop on the mountainside. She discovers the remains of dead dragon hatchlings, providing the reason for the royal sacrifices. A rescue party led by Lord Bayford arrives. The dragon kills them all, but the distraction allows Elodie to escape the mountain. She takes one of the rescue party's horses and hides under a rock as the dragon burns the surrounding area in an unsuccessful pursuit.
The conflagration alerts Isabelle that Elodie's sacrifice has failed, forcing her to kidnap Elodie's sister Floria as a replacement. After her stepmother rides out and informs her, Elodie returns to the mountain to rescue Floria, who is left alive as bait.
Elodie creates a diversion to distract the dragon to reach Floria. Telling her sister to hide, she confronts the dragon and tries to convince her that they were deceived by the Aureans: by joining their cut hands at the wedding, the blood of the brides and the Aurean royals were mingled, deceiving the dragon that the sacrificed princesses were Aurean royalty. The dragon refuses to believe Elodie, stating that the first king's assault was unprovoked, and then attacks her, but Elodie tricks her into burning herself. With the dragon at her mercy, she heals both of them with the glowing slugs.
Elodie then interrupts another wedding at the palace, exposing the Aureans' treachery. Elodie advises the new bride and her family to flee, and the dragon burns the palace with all the Aurean royals and nobles inside. Days later, Elodie, Floria, and Lady Bayford sail home, loaded with supplies and accompanied by the dragon.
Cast:
Millie Bobby Brown | Ray Winstone | Angela Bassett | Brooke Carter | Nick Robinson | Robin Wright | Milo Twomey | Nicole Joseph | Shohreh Aghdashloo.
Release:
Damsel was scheduled to stream on Netflix on October 13, 2023. However, due to the impact of the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike on the film's promotion, the original release date was postponed and the film began streaming on March 8, 2024.
Production:
Damsel was directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo from a script by Dan Mazeau, and produced by Joe Roth and Jeff Kirschenbaum through their production company for Netflix. Emily Ballou and Mark Bomback were credited for "additional literary material" off-screen.
In November 2020, Millie Bobby Brown was cast as Princess Elodie; she was also named as the film's executive producer. In April 2022, it was reported that Angela Bassett, Nick Robinson, Robin Wright, Ray Winstone, Brooke Carter, and Shohreh Aghdashloo were part of the cast.
Principal photography took place in early 2022. Cave scenes were shot at Troubadour Meridian Water Studios in London. Filming also took place in Portugal at Tomar, Sortelha, Serra da Estrela, and at the Batalha Monastery. The dragon was designed by Patrick Tatopoulos.
The film's score was composed by David Fleming and produced by Hans Zimmer. The soundtrack includes a cover of the Johnny Cash song "Ring of Fire", performed by Lykke Li. Netflix Music released the soundtrack album digitally on March 5, 2024.
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