Amber Moore is a young reporter working as a junior editor in a tabloid newspaper. She has high aspirations for her career, but writing isn't really paying off so far and her freelance career is in a never-ending dive. She does more than a junior editor should, and doesn't even mind being constantly overlooked, patiently waiting for her big break in the business. Amber is looking to prove herself. Her opportunity finally comes when her boss wants to ship her off to Aldovia - a small European country - to get the scoop on an infamous playboy prince who is expected to ascend the throne.
Upon arriving in Aldovia, however, Amber soon learns that the press conference is canceled and the prince will not be speaking to the media at all. Unwilling to go home empty-handed she tries to sneak into the palace and ends up infiltrating the place under the guise of a new American tutor for princess Emily, the prince's little sister.
Life in the palace allows Amber a unique perspective into the character of the future king of Aldovia, but much to the journalist's surprise, she discovers Richard is nothing like the world believes him to be. Far from the womanizing playboy whose face is splashed on the covers of every gossip magazine, Richard is warm and kind and constantly worried that he is not as good a man as his father was and therefore that he will be unworthy of filling his father's shoes. Amber's paper would love a sensational profile about the scandalous escapades of the prince from someone inside the inner life at the palace, but Amber has a different idea. She is a journalist, but far from being thirsty for sensational headlines, she is passionately devoted to the truth. It doesn't take long for her to realize that she can't, in good conscience write the piece her paper expects her to write.
The two of them are similar in some ways. They both know what it is to lose a parent. They are both curious about each other. He is fascinated by her courage and clumsiness, she is taken by his kindness, and the sincerity of his heart. One day he teaches her to use a bow in the castle's ground. Another time she watches Richard playing the piano and they talk about the rumors surrounding his abdication. He comes to trust her with the questions in his heart, which only makes it more complicated that he doesn't even know her real name as she is still posing as a tutor for the young princess. The big question looms in the air: will this enormous lie break them up when it finally - and invariably - comes to the surface at the worst possible moment?
The young career woman trying to find her place in the world and the reluctant prince, who's trying to find a balance between being himself and ascending the throne are a stable of Christmas Royal movies... But there are other stereotypical characters that also make an appearance here. Most noticeably the "better-match", a beautiful and all around more appropriate consort for a future king, who's a member of a noble family (perhaps even a member od some other kingdom's royal family) and is familiar with everything that being a member of the royal family entails.
 |
| It always helps to have a cello in the room... |
Naturally, the imminent threat of exposure is not the only danger on the horizon. The movie also has an incredibly annoying evil cousin, Simon, next in line and gunning for the throne himself, as well as a beautiful and ill-intentioned suitable match who can't wait to be queen and doesn't seem to mind that she and the prince don't really love each other. Here this role is filled by a baroness, Sophia Taylor, although Simon, an evil cousin eager to ascend the throne himself is also courting the baroness.
I loved this movie the first time it came out and watched it again every year since... There's something so wholesome about it, from the tobogganing expedition Amber takes with the princess to the snowball fight with the prince afterward, every scene seems to warm you up inside like a mug of hot chocolate on a cold winter's day. The queen is austere, but warm; controlled but obviously loving mother. She's different from many of the other queen mothers in these films... Less... rigid and manipulating than most. And she's portrayed by the borg queen from Star Trek!
Princess Emily is also an amazing character. The Princess is fun and bright and has an entire subplot all of her own, coming to terms with being, in her words, "a little broken". All with the help of Amber, of course, who's never anything but sweet to the little girl and quickly becomes her friend.
I can see myself watching this one again and again in the future...
This movie doesn't really have outstanding music... I'd have to say the one Richard is playing at the piano when Amber interrupts... There's something beautiful about her at the door, watching him play the piano. And, of course, there's a cello in the room.
(Also... One of the perks of being in a royal palace is that Amber actually has a Christmas tree inside her room! That's gotta be cool!")
I loved the "best Christmas element", song, etc :) I wonder what you'll bring us tomorrow
ReplyDelete