Cendrillon, a modern retelling of Cinderella, set in rural France, sees young, beautiful, spirited, Celine struggle against her oppressive step-uncle, vain step-sisters and life of drudgery on the farm. She ultimately outwits her greedy relatives and claims her rightful inheritance and place in the world.
Cendrillon tells the story of Celine, a young woman orphaned as a child.
She lives on a farm alongside her step-sisters and step-uncle, Francois.
Celine wants to pave her own way and cut ties with her greedy relatives but unforeseen circumstances thrust her into an unknown world.
She meets Evan, an American artist, and Valentin Du Plessis, a wealthy and powerful landowner.
Valentin quickly becomes obsessed with Celine. He wants to marry her and offer her the world.
However, things become increasingly complicated for Celine when Francois learns she will inherit the farm on her twenty-first birthday, which is the next day, and will have the right to get rid of him.
So Francois kidnaps Celine.
The beloved fairy tale we know as Cinderella has hundreds of variants in all parts of the globe.
The original, "Rhodopis", (meaning rosy cheeks) was an oral tale about a Greek slave girl who marries the king of Egypt told by Strabo, a Greek geographer, around two thousand years ago.
The first literary European version, "Cenerentola", (meaning ash cinders) was published in Italy by Giambattista Basile, in 1634.
The version we are most familiar with was published in French by Charles Perrault in 1697 as Cendrillon, meaning (little ashes) and became anglicized as Cinderella. Perrault is credited with the addition of the iconic glass slippers.
The moral of the tale being that beauty is a treasure but graciousness is priceless. Without it, nothing is possible; with it, one can do anything. Conversely, the second moral is, even possessing intelligence, courage, breeding and common sense, you can still fail without the help and patronage of a godmother.
There are dozens of books, operas, ballets, plays, musicals, films, animations and even video games adapted from or loosely based on the Cendrillon/Cinderella plot.
Cendrillon is catalogued as a 510, which is a Persecuted Heroine. If the persecutor is female it becomes a 510A. If a male is the persecutor it becomes a 510B
In this script Cendrillon is a 510B.
Semi-Finalist: Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards Fall 2024