Disney’s Cinderella Exhibition Presented by Swarovski is an exhibition of costumes and props from the magical new movie Cinderella, which is directed by Kenneth Branagh. The live-action fairytale remake stars Lily James, Cate Blanchett, Richard Madden and Helena Bonham Carter amongst many other big names.
The exhibit, which we visited up at Leicester Square in London, is an interactive experience which takes you behind-the-scenes of film-making, costume and prop design of the film. You journey through five multi-sensory zones including a Cinderella Heritage Gallery, Cinderella’s Home, Fairy Godmother’s Transformation and the Grand Ballroom. There are over 100 props from the film and over 30 costumes designed by the award-winning designer Sandy Powell.
Finally you go Behind the Magic with Swarovski, who provided over 1.7 million crystals for the costumes in the film. Swarovski also made the glass slippers, created from solid crystal, one of which Cinderella carries the mice in as they are walk home from the ball. (As you do, walking back from a night out…)
The exhibition honours the heritage of the original Disney classic animated Cinderella, which is celebrating its 65th anniversary this year.
Although the costumes were spectacular, they aided the even more spectacular performances of Helena Bonham Carter, Lily James and Cate Blanchet and you will often find yourself completely lost in the ocean blue of Richard Madden’s eyes. (Just me?)
Source: Cinderalla Film PosterI’d fully expected to find Branagh’s film tedious and uninspired, or, worse still, overwhelmed by computer effects, like Disney’s Maleficent, or Disney’s Alice in Wonderland. But something about Branagh’s devotion to formal and fairly simple storytelling structure, has rendered his Cinderella familiar but dreamily whimsical.
The film contains the expected mixture of drama and romance in an unexpected visually stimulating way. The plot is traditional, without too much humour or narrative corruption that can sometimes ruin other fairy-tale reboots. You can tell that the writers wanted to stress positive message (perhaps for the younger children), but surrounding this are pretty little moments that you will just have to see yourself.
