The Princess Bride: It’s Inconceivable!
Everyone is familiar with the cliché “Once Upon a Time…” type of stories. You know, the ones with a fair damsel in distress who falls in love with a handsome and brave hero while a wicked villain seeks to disrupt the peace. The Princess Bride deviates slightly from that traditional fantasy genre, but in an iconic and entertaining way.
Released in 1987, The Princess Bride is a nostalgic film for many. Who can forget such memorable quotes like Inigo’s famous line “Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die” or Wesley’s alluring trademark phrase “As you wish”. Or how adorable Fred Savage was as a sick boy listening intently to his grandfather narrating the story. It reminds most of us of when we were young and would use our imagination as we listened to the stories told by our grandparents or parents. Also, the theme song “Storybook Love”, which received an Academy Award nomination for “Best Original Song” in 1988, will always remain a classic ballad in my book (or perhaps I’m just partial to it because it was my parent’s wedding song).
Rob Reiner, the director, is also known for directing other 80's classics such as Stand By Me (1986) and When Harry Met Sally (1989). While Stand By Me maybe not be a movie about a love story and fairytale adventures, it still has that nostalgic feeling attached to it as a group of four young boys come to terms with reality and the pains of growing up. Reiner really knows how to tug at the heartstrings in more ways than one.
There are other similarities to point out within his films Stand By Me and The Princess Bride. Reiner seems to favor the narrative approach to telling a story in hindsight. In Stand By Me, Gordy is retelling a memory from his childhood whereas in The Princess Bride, the grandpa is narrating a story from a book that he is reading to his young grandson. Both stories may have different contexts, but the effect is similar. Storytelling is an art that dates back to our prehistoric origins. The relatively new invention of the motion picture changed the way we tell stories and makes storytelling a visual as well as an audible experience. Still, there’s some kind of magic that traditional storytelling has and that is what Reiner is trying to harness through the use of a third person narrator.
What Reiner really excels at is combining drama and comedy. One technical element that makes this movie different from the rest is its comedic qualities. While The Princess Bride is a story about two lovers who were separated but found each other again, there are multiple digressions that provide comedic relief for the viewer. Characters such as the petit and conniving Vizzini, the revenge seeking and pro-fencing Inigo Montoya, and the massive wrestling Fezzik are an unlikely and humorous trio but, somehow, they fit into the plot perfectly. Likewise, so does Billy Crystal as Miracle Max and Carol Kane as his wife as they argue like the old married couple that they are about what constitutes as “mostly dead”. My personal favorite is the priest who can’t enunciate his words, like “marriage”, during Buttercup and Humperdinck’s wedding ceremony. The presence of these diverse and comedic supporting characters further enhance the film as these characters contribute their own unique personalities and skills to either help Buttercup and Wesley, or hinder them. Otherwise, the movie would be boring and predictable.
I, for one, love this movie. It’s romantic, it’s humorous, it’s adventurous, and it’s so different from any other movie that I have ever seen. While I am not a big fan of Buttercup as a character, I find Wesley to be inexplicably charming and suave. I also love Inigo and Fezzik’s unlikely friendship and humor. In addition, I love that the fictional country that they live in, Florin, incorporates distinct European influences from Spanish, Italian, and British culture, but with its own charming and whimsical spin. While many find over quoted movies to be somewhat kitsch (think Mean Girls), I find The Princess Bride’s quotability to be a positive feature. There are so many iconic quotes from this film and while some of them are light-hearted and silly, there are some with real weight and depth to them. I love how there are little psychological quips sprinkled in throughout the movie as well as epic one-liner retorts (Wesley is a sharp fellow).
There are many aspects of this movie in which one would consider it to be a work of art. The beautiful scenery is one example. Filmed largely in Ireland and Great Britain, the filmmakers were able to capture the natural beauty of the English and Irish landscape. Lush highlands and rolling hills made for a fitting fantasy land. Some of the wide angle shots made the scenery look like a painting. Another artistic aspect is the inclusion of the art of fencing. Both Elwes (Wesley) and Pantikin (Inigo) had to learn how to fence to prepare for the iconic and beautifully choreographed fencing scene on the Cliffs of Insanity and in Humperdinck’s castle. It’s mesmerizing to watch, like a dance, but with foils (fencing swords).
Since this movie is often categorized as a fantasy, most viewers will recognize the artistic physical features of the film because it takes a lot of creativity and work to bring a fairytale to life. Characters have decorative costumes and make-up is used to bring creatures like elves and trolls to life. Yet, some people overlook the artistic merit of the script as well. Wesley and Inigo especially give great, almost poetic, monologues about pain, suffering, and love.
Overall, this movie accomplishes many things simultaneously. It’s witty and unique. Additionally, there are coexisting themes of love and loss, good and evil, humor and drama. There’s no shortage of laughter or tears in this film and you feel as if you are the grandson sitting in your bed and listening to your grandpa tell you about a storybook love. The film can be a bit perplexing at times and the narration sometimes interferes but, nonetheless, The Princess Bride is regarded a cult-classic for a reason. It’s inconceivably good.
