The recycling of old Disney characters has been a growing trend in recent years and the Studio's most stylish villain could not be left out. Cruella de Vil came back with a vengeance in 2021 and broke the fear that the public had to see another botched remake.
The film has many allusions to original animation and live action, other iconic films, ingenious semiotic insights, incredible fashion references and all this to the sound of rocky soundtracks, setting all the bold aesthetics of the character.
Let's take a look at some of the details, easter eggs and technical choices that may have passed you by when you watched, but that make all the difference! Oh, it's worth remembering that this post is going to be full of spoilers, because we're going to review all the movie sequences, so if you haven't seen the movie yet, hurry up and watch it before reading it!
Unlike other live actions that tried to justify unforgivable actions through tragic stories, Cruella assumes her tendency to psychopathy as a trait of her personality. Several scenes elicit empathy for what she goes through, but the script works very well to show that the main character, Estella, has always had an aversion to rules and social standards and an inclination to meanness, seeing the awakening of her true identity as Cruella as a deliverance, not punishment.
ALERT: CONTAINS SPOILER
Childhood
Right at the beginning of the film, we get to know Estella's childhood, having our first contact with her personality and her identity formation, with the right to many important details in the story. We see scenes in which Estella appears covered in paint, immediately referring to scenes from the original film. The same pattern of smudges can be seen when your teacher smudges your school record.
As a child, Estella would be taken to the same park where the couple met in 101 Dalmatians, after she was thrown out of school and her mother decided they should move to London. On the way to town, her mother promises to take her to the fountain for tea, a scene that returns later in the film, when Estella's mother is already dead and she talks to the fountain over tea, as if they were together.
On the way to London, Estella's mother says they will pass by a place to ask a friend for help, and tells the girl to wait in the car. Some indications that something bad is going to happen are striking. On the facade, we can see three dogs, which can be associated with Cerberus, an infernal dog that allows souls to enter the underworld, but never leave. Even at the entrance we see the word hell (in English) written on the gates. Tragedy was predicted.
When Estella's mother enters the gates, it is never to leave. Three dogs (Dalmatians) drop her off a cliff, as if they were Cerberus. In the background we can hear the noise of a kettle, which later turns out to be the Baroness' whistle, ordering the dogs to act against the woman.
Estella flees to the park, believing that her mother's death is to blame, and there she meets Gaspar and Horacio, who become her companions in robbery and in her life. She grows up feeling guilty about her mother's death and trying to make amends for her mistake, being the Estella her mother always wanted her to be.
Starting Low
During a hotel robbery, as an adult, we can notice some references to Hitchcock movies. First, Estella watches a scene from a bank and nine destinations, where we meet one of Cruella's character inspirations, decades earlier. It is worth mentioning that another inspiration for Cruella was the stylist Coco Chanel. Another allusion to the director is the name we see on the name tag Estella wears: Norma. It refers to the character Norman Bates from Psycho, who resembles Cruella's story in that he also 'assumes' his mother's personality after her death.
Next, we see Estella's friend get a job for her to 'start at the bottom' at the Liberty store, which turns out to be literal as the camera enters through the roof of the building and goes underground, revealing Estella's Cinderella moment washing the bathroom floor. By the way, the character is also associated with Cinderella in another scene of the film, by stylist Artie.
Artie's face reminds us a lot of David Bowie. Another cool reference involving his character is his line “if you can dream it, I can dress it”, very similar to the phrase “if you can dream it, you can make it”, attributed to Walt Disney.
Returning to Estella's new job, we have a reference to her costume in the 1996 live action, when the girl takes out the trash and ends up getting dirty, having a veil hooked in her hair, covering her face.
Her life begins to change when she receives the proposal to work with Baroness, a renowned classic fashion stylist, inspired by Swedish supermodel Lisa Fonssagrives and brands like Dior and Balenciaga. Did you notice similarities between the following scenes and The Devil wears Prada? The explanation is simple: one of the film's writers worked on both features!
In one of the scenes in which Estella is working for the Baroness, we see her meeting Roger, the Baroness' lawyer who would be one of the protagonists of 101 Dalmatians. The boss mentions that Roger plays the piano, to which Estella comments “the piano is cool”, which seems to be a reference to the actress' role in La la land. In the original film Roger is also a musician and it is worth noting that the scenario of Roger's house is similar to the animation.
Back to Crime
Not long after, Estella discovers that the Baroness has her mother's necklace and decides to steal it at her mistress's party, using a trick to reveal her dress, foreshadowed scenes earlier when her companion Horacio holds a stick of fire. The costume reveal also seems like a reference to Katniss's Hunger Games dress. Another name we remember is that of Hussein Chalayan, expert in making clothes change color, length and shape in the middle of the runway.
Estella's friends enter the ball disguised as fumigants, while in the original film they disguise themselves as electricians to steal the puppies.
Estella is distracting the Baroness while her companions try to steal the necklace from the vault, but when she realizes that her mistress is wearing the jewel, she tries to dodge the situation, taking the necklace. A riot with rats unfolds in the hall and, upon seeing the Baroness using the whistle to give the order to attack the dogs, he discovers that it was she who killed his mother. She is escorted by the same employee who threw her out of the ball as a child, and then we understand that he was trying to defend her at the time.
To escape, Estella steals a car, where we see that the car, the way she drives and the framing are very similar to the animation.
Turning Things Around
From this point on in the film, Estella assumes Cruella's personality, as she believes this is the only way to resolve the situation. She starts acting mean to her friends and orders them to do their dirty work, starting with stealing the three Dalmatians to find out which one of them swallowed her necklace.
In the van, which is very similar to the one they use in the original film, the friends comment on how the owners are very similar to their dogs, immediately reminding us of the opening scene of 101 Dalmatians. When stealing the dogs, they use the same trick they used on the fence as children to let Wink, the one-eyed puppy, escape the Dalmatians.
Now let's go to Cruella's rise as a threat to the Baroness and her empire. While the boss is a symbol of classic fashion, inspired by the Swedish supermodel Lisa Fonssagrives and the luxury brands Dior and Balenciaga, Cruella represents avant-garde and disruptive fashion. Let's see some fun facts about her models: The graffiti face is in keeping with the Viktor & Rolf trend in 2008, where models had written on their faces;
The cocoon dress, made by Estella and stolen by the boss, is inspired by the dress made by Alexander McQueen for his last fashion show, in summer 2010, and worn by Lady Gaga in the music video for the song “Bad Romance”;
The trash dress refers to Vivienne Westwood, who was in a dump in 2011 criticizing the discard of fashion;
The model with newspaper in a corset armed with a princess cut, has volumes and constructions reminiscent of both Vivienne Westwood and the more classic Alexander McQueen.
With references to the history of fashion, in addition to inspirations from Vivienne Westwood, with her punk couture style, we realize that the designs created by Jenny Beavan, production stylist, are influenced by John Galliano, Cristóbal Balenciaga and Vogue in the 70s. English style inspires looks from Estella's young phase.
As if all these references to the world of fashion were not enough, we also have an employee of the baroness who looks like Yves Saint, a big name in fashion who carries a little of the same bipolar madness that we see in Cruella.
Cruella's hair is a strong testament to the changes the character goes through. Sweet Estella's well-behaved red hair, tied back in a bun, changes to Cruella's rebellious and emblematic hairstyle, one of the villain's most striking elements and representing her two personalities, her good side coming from her adoptive mother, and her psychopathy inherited from the biological mother.
Closer Look
If you think we've reached the end, calm down! We still have some very interesting details to comment:
While planning Cruella's revenge, the scene where the dogs watch TV with Horacio is very similar to the scene in the original movie;
The joke that Cruella makes “I could make wonderful coats out of them” refers to the moment in the 1996 movie when the villain says “No doubt they would make an exceptional coat”;
When Cruella's death is reported, newspapers call her a 'Dalmatian assassin', a status she doesn't try to demystify and leads us to question how much of the personality we saw in the original film is real or just a facade she likes to maintain. ;
In the scene where Cruella releases his friends from prison, we hear a horn similar to the sound of the original movie. Another reference that the same moment brings is the invasion of the police station in The exterminator of the future;
When Cruella finds out that the name of the car that Horacio got for his great revenge is DeVille, she decides to adopt it as her last name, changing it to De Vil, an association with the word devil, in English.
Grand Finale
Cruella's latest trick is a trap for the Baroness to try to kill him the same way she murdered her adoptive mother, at which time she uses a parachute to survive. It's a sweet and ironic way of getting her revenge, while she keeps her promise to Gaspar not to kill her enemy. It also shows that Cruella's malice is different from what Baroness presents, because within her criteria, she still adheres to some ethical limits that she does not want to exceed, either by herself or to please her friends and the memory of her adoptive mother.
When Cruella goes to live in the mansion, she takes "man" from the gate that says "Hellman Hall". Now the joke is complete and the place assumes the name of corridor from hell.
Finally, after the credits, we see Anita and Roger receiving dalmatian puppies, a harbinger of the original film. We also see Roger composing his song about Cruella and we understand that his disdain for her has to do with her causing her unemployment, yet another example of how the film's creators thought through every detail.
Phew, what cool references!
So, were you shocked too? Perhaps one of the reasons the film turned out so well has to do with the wonderful Glenn Close, Cruella in the 1996 film, who was executive producer of the new feature. But for whatever reasons, we're just so grateful for this great movie that came to bring in really fun moments and question the traditional fashion industry and the idea that a character can only be good or bad.