An on-screen manifestation of female rage.

Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s 2024 Damsel tells the story of Elodie (Millie Bobby Brown) who marries the prince of her kingdom to help her family financially. However, the idea of a once-in-a-lifetime marriage is not for Prince Henry (Nick Robinson) – he prefers a three-in-a-lifetime format. As the plot thickens, the audience discovers that the prince’s family marries and sacrifices three brides each generation in order to let the dragon keep their kingdom and power. Yet, oh boy, so many lies and conspiracies are intertwined behind all this: from the ancestor king who had killed the three hatchlings of the dragon (who’s also female) for which she demanded to take three females of the royal blood each generation in return to sparing the king’s life; to the royal family marrying and turning innocent “lowly” girls into ones “of their blood,” to ultimately sacrifice them and trick the dragon – until Elodie appears.

As the beginning of the movie goes, “There are many stories of chivalry, where the heroic knight saves the damsel in distress. This is not one of them,” — cause in this one the damsel saves herself and the others. Following all the cliche Hollywood structures, this movie features a female protagonist who not only breaks generational cycles by being the only girl surviving the dragon but also misogynistic trends rooted in our culture, shown through surface-level yet important plot points.

Damsel is like a condensed female rage in a bottle, showing all the possible man archetypes that women have dreaded for centuries: the king who wronged the mother dragon and killed her children for his profit; the father who sells his daughter for his own survival; the ‘dreamy prince’ who promises that “he’s got Elodie,” asking her to trust him, to throw her into the dragon’s cave moments later…these recurring plots appear not only in fairy tales – they’re rooted in reality. And, having Elodie join forces with the mother dragon in the end to destroy the evil royal family and end the malevolent tradition, Damsel avenges all that misogyny. Is this a great movie? NOT AT ALL. I’m not sure it’ll stand the test of time. It’s a solid 5/10. However, it’s a good modern twist on the well-known fairy-tale that I think girls ages 6-12 would enjoy and have a lot to learn AND unlearn from.