Cinderella (I) (2015)

Cate Blanchett: Stepmother

Photos 

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Quotes 

• Captain : Madam, there is no other maiden in your house?

  Lady Tremaine : No!

  Captain : Then has your cat learned to sing?

• [from TV spot and deleted scene] 

  Lady Tremaine : What on earth have you been doing?

  Cinderella : Nothing, dreaming, that's all.

  Lady Tremaine : Well then, *wake up*!

• Lady Tremaine : [from trailer]  Wouldn't you prefer to eat when all the work is done, Ella?

  Cinderella : Yes, stepmother.

  Lady Tremaine : You needn't call me that; Madam will do.

• Captain : [to Cinderella]  Miss. You are requested and required to present yourself to your king.

  Lady Tremaine : I forbid you to do this!

  Captain : And I forbid you to forbid her! Who are you to stop an officer of the king? Are you an empress? A saint? A deity?

  Lady Tremaine : I am her mother.

  Cinderella : [curtly]  You have never been... and you never will be my mother.

• Cinderella : [from trailer]  It was my mother's old dress.

  Lady Tremaine : It would be an insult to take you to the palace dressed in these old rags.

• Lady Tremaine : [to Cinderella, after she, Drisella, and Anastasia tear Cinderella's mother's dress]  Mark my words: you shall *not* go to the ball!

• Cinderella : [after Lady Tremaine shatters her glass slipper on the wall; horrified and angry]  Why? Why are you so *cruel*? I don't understand it. I've tried to be kind to you.

  Lady Tremaine : You? Kind to me?

  Cinderella : Yes. And though *no one* deserves to be treated as you have treated me. Why do you do it? WHY?

  Lady Tremaine : Why? Because YOU are *young*, and *innocent*, and *good*, and I...

  [she furiously turns to leave, locking Cinderella in her room] 

  Cinderella : No! No!

• Lady Tremaine : [points at Ella's breakfast plate]  Who's this for? Is there someone we've forgotten?

  Cinderella : [smiles]  It's my place.

  Lady Tremaine : Oh, it seems too much to expect you to prepare breakfast, serve it and to sit with us. Wouldn't you prefer to eat when all the work is done, Ella? Or should I say, *Cinder*-Ella? Hmm?

• Lady Tremaine : How charming, how perfectly charming.

• Lady Tremaine : [holding the glass slipper]  Are you looking for this? There must be quite a story to go with it. Won't you tell me? Hm? Very well, I shall tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was a *beautiful* young girl who married for love. And she had two loving daughters. All was well. But, one day, her husband, the light of her life, died. The next time, she married for the sake of her daughters. But that man, too, was taken from her. And she was doomed to look every day upon his beloved child. She had hoped to marry off one of her beautiful, stupid daughters to the prince. But his head was turned by a girl with glass slippers. And so, I lived unhappily ever after. My story would appear to be ended.

• Lady Tremaine : Now, here is how you will pay me, if you are to have what you desire. No one will believe you, a dirty servant girl without a family, if you lay claim to the Prince's heart. But with a respectable gentlewoman to put you forward, you will not be ignored. When you are married, you will make *me* the head of the royal household. Anastasia and Drizella we will pair off with wealthy lords, and *I* shall manage that boy.

  Cinderella : But he's not a boy.

  Lady Tremaine : And who are you? How would *you* rule a kingdom? Best to leave it to me; that way we all get what we want.

  Cinderella : No.

  Lady Tremaine : No?

  Cinderella : I was not able to protect my father from you, but I will protect the prince *and* the kingdom, no matter what becomes of me.

• Lady Tremaine : I daresay no one in the kingdom will outshine my daughters.

• Cinderella : But... *All* the ladies in the land are invited, by order of the king.

  Lady Tremaine : It is the *king* I'm thinking of. It would be an insult to the royal personage to take you to the palace dressed in these old rags.

  Cinderella : [appalled]  Rags? This was my mother's.

  Lady Tremaine : [Tremaine inches closer to Ella]  Oh... Sorry to have to tell you, but your mother's taste was questionable. This *thing* is so old-fashioned, it's practically falling to pieces.

  [Tremaine tugs harshly the sleeve of Ella's dress causing the sleeve to rip completely] 

• Lady Tremaine : [Captain and Lady Tramaine walking into Cinderella's room]  There, see? I told you there is no one of any importance.

  Captain : [to Lady Tremaine]  We'll see about that.

  [to Cinderella] 

  Captain : Miss, you are requested and required to present yourself to your king.

• Lady Tremaine : [listening to Drizella play the piano and sing off-key]  Do shut up.

• Fairy Godmother : [narrating]  Ella's great comfort were the letters that Father would send from his travels. The weeks away lengthened to months, but every day would bring his thoughts from some distant part. Until late one afternoon...

  Cinderella : [answering the front door]  Farmer John?

  Farmer : Miss Ella. It's your father, miss. He took ill on the road. He's passed on, miss. He's gone. To the end, he spoke only of you, miss. And your mother. I was to give you this.

  [he gives her a thin tree branch] 

  Anastasia : But what about my lace?

  Drizella : My parasol?

  Lady Tremaine : Can't you see? None of that matters. We're ruined. How will we live?

  Cinderella : [crying, turning back to Farmer John]  Thank you. It must have been very difficult for you.

• Drizella : We did not communicate through mere words. Our souls met.

  Anastasia : Precisely. My soul and the prince's soul. Your soul was over by the banquet tables.

  Drizella : You didn't see him dance with me.

  Lady Tremaine : Dance with you? He didn't even speak to you.

  Anastasia : It was not our fault, Mother. It was that girl.

  Drizella : The mystery princess.

  Cinderella : Mystery princess? My, what a charming notion.

  Lady Tremaine : Ugh, she was no princess. She was a preening interloper who made a spectacle of herself.

• Lady Tremaine : [after Ella hears the announcement of the ball]  Having delivered your news, why are you still here? You must return to town right away and tell that seamstress to run us up three fine ballgowns.

  Cinderella : Three? That's very thoughtful of you.

  Lady Tremaine : What do you mean?

  Cinderella : To think of me.

  Lady Tremaine : Think of you?

  Drizella : Mummy, she believes the other dress is for her. Poor slow, little Cinders. How embarrassing.

  Lady Tremaine : [laughing]  You're too ambitious for your own good.

  Cinderella : Oh, no. I only want to see my friend.

  Lady Tremaine : Let me be very clear. One gown for Anastasia, one for Drizella, and one for me!

  [she says something in French] 

  Anastasia : She doesn't know what that means.

  Lady Tremaine : [Ella responds in French]  Good. Right. That's settled, then. Now go! Every girl in the kingdom will be chasing the prince. You must get there first before the seamstress is drowning in work!

  Anastasia : [following behind]  Tell me what she said, Drizella.

  Drizella : I speak French, not Italian!

• Grand Duke : [holding the heel of the broken glass slipper]  May I ask where you got this?

  Lady Tremaine : From a ragged servant girl in my household.

  Grand Duke : The mystery princess is a commoner.

  Lady Tremaine : You could imagine when I discovered her subterfuge how horrified I was.

  Grand Duke : You told no one else?

  Lady Tremaine : Not even my own daughters. No one need ever know the truth.

  Grand Duke : You've spared the kingdom a great deal of embarrassment.

  Lady Tremaine : And I should like to keep it that way.

  Grand Duke : Are you threatening me?

  Lady Tremaine : Yes.

  Grand Duke : So, what do you want?

  Lady Tremaine : I should like to be a countess. And I require advantageous marriages for my two daughters.

  Grand Duke : Done. And the girl?

  Lady Tremaine : Oh. Do with her what you will. She's nothing to me.

• Lady Tremaine : A vulgar, young hussy marched into the ball, unaccompanied, if you will, and to the horror of everyone, threw herself at the prince.

  Anastasia : And he actually danced with the ugly thing.

  Cinderella : Yes?

  Drizella : Yes. It was pity. He was too polite to send her packing in front of everyone, you see. But not wanting to expose us to the presumptuous wench any further, he took he apart.

  Anastasia : And told her off. But she refused to leave and the palace guards chased her from the party! I pity the prince. Such bad taste.

  Drizella : They belong with each other.

  Lady Tremaine : Well, it's no matter, girls. The ball was a mere diversion. The prince is not free to marry for love. He's promised to the Princess Chelina of Zaragoza. The Grand Duke told me himself.

  Drizella : It's so very unfair.

  Lady Tremaine : Yes. The way of the world.

• Lady Tremaine : [to Ella, after she finally stood up to her]  Just remember who you are, you wretch!