I’m back on my Anastasia bullshit.
It’s hard to know why I love this movie so much. I mean, I’m the first to admit that it’s ridiculous to the point of offensiveness, seeing as it’s a lighthearted musical based on the real-life assassination of an entire family. Whatever you may think of Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov – or even monarchies in general – he was by all accounts a loving husband and father, and his five children (who at the time of their deaths were aged between thirteen and twenty-two) certainly did not deserve such a violent end.
Basing a children’s animated film around such an event, and adding talking bats, musical numbers and a happy ending is questionable to say the least. Yet watching this at age twelve, I hardly cared about any of that. I first learned of the film’s existence during the Golden Globe Awards of 1998, in which it was nominated twice for Best Original Song (Once Upon a December and Journey to the Past), and something about the clips just captivated me. The countdown began…
By the time it hit New Zealand theatres I had successfully hyped up my little sister and my best friend, and finally getting to see it was an Event in the way that going to the movies just isn’t anymore. And no, I’m not talking about the way Star Wars or Marvel films or any other big blockbusters are promoted as must-see big-screen Events, but rather the way you occasionally approach a film and just know that it’s going to soak into your psyche and become a formative experience.
I’ve only felt this way about three other films in my adult life: Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), The Illusionist (2006) and Song of the Sea (2014) and in revisiting any of them it’s not just the memory of the stories that appeal, but recalling the storm of emotions I felt while watching them for the first time. I’m sure we’ve all got books or movies or shows like this – ones that feel engrained in our subconscious either through having watched them at a very early age or by the way they cater so perfectly to our unique tastes and preferences that they feel like they were crafted for us personally.
When I take into account my other favourite movies – The Neverending Story (1984), Labyrinth (1984), The Secret Garden (1993), Sleepy Hollow (1999), The Mummy (1999), and The Others (2001) it’s clear how Anastasia fits into my storytelling predilections. It’s a period drama with a strong female protagonist, beautiful animation, a complex love story between two people with genuine chemistry who have to earn their happy ending, some ethical dilemmas, and a fairy tale ambiance that’s tinged with loss and regret, but also a strong sense of enduring hope. Give or take a few of these elements, and that describes all my favourite films.
So I was perhaps always destined to be obsessed with Anastasia. Which, as I said, is absurd, because this movie is bonkers.
