Are fairy tales nothing more than tired tropes? It’s an intriguing concept that guides “White As Snow.” The film offers a blunt inspection of the standard fairy tale while skillfully updating typical constructs. Centered around the strained stepmother/stepdaughter dynamic, screenwriters Pascal Bonitzer and Anne Fontaine give the latter character a sense of freedom as well as choice. This is prevalent especially when it comes to instilling sexuality not as a device, but as a natural part of life itself.
Fontaine also serves as the director of the project; ‘Snow’ presents another chance for her to explore female characters with depth and perspective. That focus has helped Fontaine in developing other well-received titles including “Adore” and “Coco Before Chanel.” Both form their stories around female characters, as opposed to through the eyes of their male counterparts. The details enhance the narrative while presenting nuanced takes on prevalent issues.
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The film’s official synopsis:
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When Claire (Lou de Laâge), a beautiful but reserved young woman unwittingly provokes the furious jealousy of her evil stepmother Maud (Isabelle Huppert), life as she knows it is over. Sent far away from home, Claire awakens, both figuratively and literally, in a small village in the French mountains. As if by magic, her formerly shy demeanor is gone and she is suddenly aware of her feminine power. It’s the beginning of a radical emancipation. As Claire meets the locals and starts to take joy in her sexuality, soon one, two, three… seven men fall under her charm. For the first time in her life she allows herself to indulge in no-strings sex, taking pride in belonging to no one. But then Maud arrives wanting to reconnect, and Claire must decide who to trust—her sophisticated but cold stepmother, or the circle of adoring men that now surround her.
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Charles Berling, Damien Bonnard, Jonathan Cohen, Richard Frechette, Vincent Macaigne, Pablo Pauly, and Benoit Poelvoorde also star in “White As Snow.” The film opens in theaters on August 13. Watch the new trailer below.
