Damsel

Story

Elodie (Millie Bobbie Brown) and her younger sister, Floria (Brooke Carter), live in a cold and impoverished kingdom where their family must work very hard for the benefit of their people. When a proposal arrives from the Queen of Aurea (Robin Wright), asking for Elodie’s hand in marriage to her son, Prince Henry (Nick Robinson), Elodie has reservations. She eventually agrees because the union will save their people.

Elodie, Floria and their father, Lord Bayford (Ray Winstone), and stepmother (Angela Bassett), travel to Aurea to meet Prince Henry and his family. Aurea is spectacular, the castle is magnificent and, much to Elodie’s relief, Prince Henry is handsome and kind. Elodie and Henry also seem to have much in common.

But moments after the wedding, things take a serious turn. Elodie is flung into a deep cavern. She is the second of 3 royal sacrifices given to an ancient dragon that dwells in the caves below. The dragon must have vengeance for the brutal slaying of her own 3 newly hatched daughters by another king centuries earlier.

Elodie is determined not to become the next sacrifice and must find her way out of the caves before she’s killed. Using her wits, her courage and a newfound strength that she didn’t know she possessed, Elodie fights her way free and escapes. This only enrages the dragon, and Floria is offered as a replacement sacrifice.

When Elodie learns that her sister has been taken by the dragon, she hatches a plan to save Floria. The plan might cost Elodie her life, or it might ensure that the dragon never slays an innocent girl again and that the true villains are finally brought to justice.

Themes

Betrayal; revenge; sacrifice; a child separated from family; the death of a parent; killing in an attempt to get justice for something that can’t be rectified

Violence

Damsel has some violence. For example:

There’s a story about a dragon filled with blood lust, who killed villagers and attacked and killed the men who went to fight her. The story explains how the kingdom must give up 3 princesses every generation to keep its people safe.
The Queen of Aurea slices Elodie’s palm with a knife. She does the same with her son’s palm and has them hold hands.
Prince Henry throws Elodie off a high bridge. She is thrown down a deep chasm where she lands on hard ground, battered and bruised, her face badly scratched by trees and brambles, and her head bleeding.
Elodie tries to help a bird that has been set on fire. Suddenly, hundreds of birds fill the cave, all of which have been set on fire. They fly, burning to death, before landing all around Elodie as smouldering and glowing carcasses.
Elodie repeatedly runs from the dragon as it tries to burn her alive. Her leg is badly burned by flames. She is in a lot of pain as she narrowly escapes into a crevice.
Elodie discovers the burned body of the princess who was sacrificed the day before Elodie herself was thrown into the cave.
Elodie falls through a stone passageway and gets stuck, face down. She nearly falls off a cliff ledge and has to stab her way back up a cliff face with a knife.
As Elodie pauses to drink water dripping from stalactites, the dragon tries to burn her again. It tells her that ‘the story always ends the same’. She finds herself in a small, hidden space filled with old dresses and the names of the countless princesses who have been killed before her.
In a dream, Elodie sees all the past princesses as they nurse their wounds, keep a terrified watch for the dragon, shiver in fear or quietly cry.
Elodie nearly falls into the waiting mouth of the dragon when she loses her grip while climbing a wall of crystals.
Elodie comes across the charred remains of 3 baby dragons, still partially in their shells.
There’s a flashback that shows the 3 baby dragons being stabbed to death by a king and the dragon burning the king’s soldiers to death.
The severed leg of a knight is shown.
The dragon grabs a man from behind and smashes him into a rock pillar, where he bashes his head on the ground and dies.
The dragon grabs another man and crushes him with her claw.
The dragon grabs Elodie’s father with her tail, holds him upside down and tries to get him to lure Elodie out.
The dragon stabs Elodie’s father through the chest with her talons.
The dragon crushes a man’s neck, and his body seems to explode under the pressure.
The dragon tries to burn the rope that Elodie is climbing up to escape, and it nearly succeeds in burning her.
Elodie escapes and hides, but the horse she was riding is burned alive while it runs away.
Fire rains around the mountain and explodes across the sky, showing the dragon’s fury to the kingdom.
The Queen of Aurea orders guards to slice Elodie’s stepmother through the stomach and to take Floria in Elodie’s place.
The Queen slices Floria’s hand and then her own. Her guards then throw Floria into the chasm.
Elodie is burned by the dragon and then crushed by its claw as it stabs her in the chest.
Elodie stabs a knife into one of the dragon’s eyes and fluid sprays out.
Elodie stabs the dragon through the wrist with her sword as she’s held in the dragon’s claws.
Through Elodie’s cleverness, the dragon burns herself with her own fire.
The dragon burns the royal family alive and then destroys their castle.

Sexual references

There are no sexual references in Damsel.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

There’s no use of substances in Damsel.

Nudity and sexual activity

Damsel has some nudity and sexual activity. For example, Elodie and Prince Henry kiss.

Product placement

There’s no product placement in Damsel.

Coarse language

There’s no coarse language in Damsel.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Damsel is an action-packed fantasy adventure from Netflix, featuring a diverse cast with strong female role models and excellent CGI. The movie does have a lot of violence and frequent injury detail, however, so it’s best suited to teenage and older audiences.

These are the main messages from Damsel:

Your actions define who you are.
Nobility is determined by your courage and the quality of your character, not by birth or marriage.
No matter how terrified you are or how powerless you feel, you’re not alone and you must never give up.

Values in Damsel that you could reinforce with your children include courage, honesty, responsibility, resourcefulness and determination.

Damsel could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the real-life consequences of things like:

betraying the people you love
trying to take revenge for something that’s in the past and can’t be changed
lying to others for personal gain
spreading false tales, rumours and fear.