| A Little Princess | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Alfonso Cuarón |
| Produced by | Alan C. Blomquist Dalisa Cohen Amy Ephron Mark Johnson |
| Screenplay by | Richard LaGravenese Elizabeth Chandler |
| Based on | A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett |
| Starring | Liesel Matthews Eleanor Bron Liam Cunningham Vanessa Lee Chester |
| Music by | Patrick Doyle |
| Cinematography | Emmanuel Lubezki |
| Editing by | Steven Weisberg |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | May 10, 1995 |
| Running time | 97 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $17 million |
| Box office | $10,015,449 |
A Little Princess is a 1995 American children's film directed by Alfonso Cuarón, starring Liesel Matthews, Eleanor Bron, Liam Cunningham, and Vanessa Lee Chester. Set during World War I, it focuses on a young girl who is relegated to a life of servitude in a New York City boarding school by the headmistress after receiving news that her father was killed in combat. Loosely based upon the novel A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett, this adaptation was heavily influenced by the 1939 cinematic version and took great creative liberties with the original story. Various differences occur between the original source material and the setting and screenplay of this film.
Due to poor promotion by its distributor, the film hardly made back half its budget. However, the film was critically acclaimed and given various recognition for its significant achievements in art direction and cinematography, among other aspects of its production.
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Sara Crewe (Liesel Matthews) loves her childhood home in India, but she has to leave it when her beloved father (Liam Cunningham) enlists to fight for the British in World War I. He enrolls her at Miss Minchin's Seminary for Girls in New York, the same school Sara's late mother attended, and spares no expense to make sure his daughter will be comfortable while he is gone.
Sara quickly becomes popular and well-liked by the other students, whose boring, mundane lives are made exciting by the wonderful stories from "The Ramayana" Sara tells. The school's spoiled bully, Lavinia (Taylor Fry), becomes angry over Sara's increasing popularity. She often clashes with the severe headmistress, Miss Minchin (Eleanor Bron), who attempts to stifle Sara's creativity and sense of self-worth. Sara attempts to befriend the school's black servant girl, Becky (Vanessa Lee Chester), but is told to avoid her. Miss Minchin throws Sara a lavish birthday party in order to extract more money from her father, but when word comes that her father was killed in battle and his estate has been seized by the British government, she forces Sara to become a servant. Miss Minchin also confiscates all of Sara's possessions, including a locket her father gave her. Sara's belief that "every girl is a princess" is put to the limit and she stops telling stories. Her friendship with Becky grows and her other school friends sneak up to the attic to see her. Feeling sorry, Sara's friends decide to surprise her by stealing her locket. Touched by this, Sara continues "The Ramayana".
Meanwhile, in the mansion next door, a rich old man named Charles Randolph (Arthur Malet) has recently received word that his son, John, also fighting in WWI, is MIA, resulting in his being relegated to a wheelchair. He is cared for by an Indian immigrant named Ram Dass (Errol Sitahal) who had traveled to America on the same ship as the Crewes. Ram Dass keeps an eye on Sara, knowing that she is a kind hearted girl. Mr. Randolph is called to a military hospital hoping an unidentified soldier suffering from blindess and amnesia due to exposure to poison gas is his son. Ram Dass convinces Mr. Randolph to take the injured soldier in anyway, reminding him that the soldier may know what happened to John.
One evening, as Sara tells the girls a frightening tale of Ravana, the girls scream in terror and Miss Minchin finds them. She punishes Sara and Becky by denying them any food the next day. To stay full, Sara suggests that they eat a feast that night. The two girls then pretend to have a banquet in the room as Ram Dass watches. The next morning, they wake up to find that the room has turned into a palace-like bedroom, with the same food they dreamed of eating the night before, courtesy of Ram Dass. Miss Minchin enters the room later that day and accuses them of stealing everything. She turns them in to the police and the girls decide that Sara must try to escape. Using a plank as a bridge, Sara narrowly crosses from the school to Randolph's house. The police arrive and enter the house to find her, and to arrest Becky as well. In Randolph's house, Sara meets the soldier and realizes that he is her father. He is unable to remember her however, even though she tries to remind him. Miss Minchin tells the police that Sara has no family, though she clearly recognizes Sara's father. Just as she is being taken away by the police, however, Ram Dass helps Captain Crewe to regain his memory and rescue her.
The film ends with Sara, her father, whose assets and fortune have been restored by the British government, and Becky all leaving for India together. Sara says goodbye to all of the girls and leaves them her favorite doll, Emily, given to her by her father before the war, as a present. Even the bullying Lavinia overcomes her jealousy and parts with Sara on good terms. Mr. Randolph learns of how Sara's father attempted to save his son's life in the trenches during the gas attack, and becomes the school's new headmaster. Meanwhile, Miss Minchin becomes a chimney sweep, working for a boy she previously mistreated.
Despite commercial failure, A Little Princess was critically acclaimed; it currently holds a 97% 'Fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus, "Alfonso Cuarón adapts Frances Hodgson Burnett's novel with a keen sense of magic realism, vividly recreating the world of childhood as seen through the characters."[1]
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