Penelope

It’s often a bad sign when a movie’s release date is bumped back. Penelope was bumped not once, but twice, hitting theaters now almost a full year after its original April 2007 release date. And it’s not hard to see why it made distributors nervous. It’s rare that a film comes along that has the mettle to charm moviegoers 7 years old, 27 years olds, and 47 years old. It’s a marketing nightmare.

But the movie itself is a dream. A fairytale if you will, in which a wealthy, blue-blooded family suffers a curse—your next daughter will be born with the nose of a pig and she will stay that way until one of “her own kind” loves her. Several generations pass with only sons, until Penelope emerges, confirming the curse is still in effect.

Christina Ricci as Penelope

Played by Christina Ricci, Penelope is cute in a Miss Piggy sort of way, even with the snout. So, as with most fairytales, one must suspend disbelief long enough to fully grasp the conundrum she faces. In horror at her daughter’s appearance, Penelope’s mother has secreted her away since she was an infant, preparing her always to be the perfect wife—so as to woo a blueblood to marry her, for marriage will surely break the curse.

Catherine O’Hara, a fixture in many a Christopher Guest mockumentary, is splendid as the frequently histrionic mother who is desperate to fix (up) her daughter. O’Hara manages to make the mother endearing in the way that all good mothers are, and this despite the fact that she is not a very good mother. She’s self-centered at practically every turn, with disastrous results. But you can never truly write her off and Penelope knows it. You can, however, run away. And Penelope does.

Despite her sequestered life, Penelope is a kind and spirited young woman. She’s certainly intelligent given that her closest friends have long been books. She’s spent seven years suffering the rejection of would-be suitors—young bluebloods attracted to the size of her dowry but immediately repulsed by the size of her nose—and is on the verge of giving up when one young man, Max, offers hope.

James McAvoy as Max

Max, played by James McAvoy, is a seemingly down-and-out blueblood enlisted by a tabloid journalist named Lemon (a fantastic turn by Peter Dinklage) and a disgusted suitor named Edward (Simon Woods) to get a picture of the ugly girl—a picture that neither Lemon nor Edward can get for themselves. Max and his unshaven charm are just along for the money. The fact that he and Penelope fall for each other complicates matters in a way that neither Penelope nor the audience understand for some time.

When Max dashes Penelope’s hopes for marriage and an end to the curse, she decides to set off on her own to discover the world. This world is a sort of kindler, gentler version of a Tim Burton production. The British country village is embroidered onto a Manhattan-like metropolis to create a surreal urban palate of cobblestone and skyscrapers and bicycle messengers on Vespas outfitted with wings. Penelope’s aesthetic devices never quite elicit the dark whimsy of Big Fish or Edward Scissorhands, but the scenery is both stimulating and fun, and it’s easy to be happy for the heroine as she stretches her legs.

Peter Dinklage as Lemon

She makes friends with the bartender at the Cloverdilly Pub and the Vespa-driving messenger girl (a small part for the movie’s producer, Reese Witherspoon). But now that she’s AWOL, persistent Lemon manages to score the pictures that make Penelope front page news—press coverage that Penelope’s mom has assiduously tried to avoid for so many years.

In addition to its rom-com story arc, one can’t help but also see in Penelope a commentary about celebrity culture. When Penelope protests to her mom that she has friends now, these sane words from the oft insane mother ring loud and clear, “Those aren’t friends dear, those are fans.” And indeed, some reflection on why Penelope becomes so popular with the public might reveal some less-than-charming answers.

But Penelope does also now have actual friends, and more importantly, she likes life even with a snout. So when Edward, a blueblood whom she doesn’t love, offers marriage, she is faced with a true dilemma.

The theme of self-acceptance isn’t a new one, but Penelope manages to rehash it with flavor and with real heart. A sense of earnestness suffuses the movie that avoids being condescending or trite. In Penelope’s world, romantic love is as desirable as ever, but it isn’t all-consuming. It’s a world in which adventure, friendship, and family loom as large as love, and provide their own joys and frustrations. And it’s a world—fairy tale or not—we can all aspire to live in. Whether you’re 7 or 77. Sorry, marketing people.

>Talk About It

Discussion starters

At one point in the movie, Penelope’s mom defends a suggestion she’s made to Penelope with the statement, “What? I’m being her mother! That’s what mothers do with daughters; they talk about how to look prettier.” Discuss this. Is it true in your experience? How do you feel about suggestions your mom makes regarding your appearance? Is there a line between being helpful and being hurtful?
At the end of the movie, Penelope asks a class of children what her story means and she gets a few different answers. How would you answer the question?
Penelope’s mother insists that Penelope is not her nose—that she is someone other than her nose would suggest. Penelope insists that in some way she is her nose—that her nose is a part of who she is. Who do you agree with? Can you agree with both of these perspectives? What are the ramifications of these two perspectives for people dealing with something they don’t like about their body?
Why do you think the public was so happy to embrace Penelope? What’s the difference between “friends” and “fans”?

The Family Corner

For parents to consider

Penelope is rated PG for thematic elements, some innuendo and language. Drinking and gambling are backdrops in a number of scenes, and there are a handful of sexually charged jokes in this otherwise mild movie. The jokes are likely to fly over the heads of pre-teens, but might make parents squirm wondering if their younger kids “got it.” There is also a jump scene in which an imagined version of Penelope bares fangs.