Maleficent (2014)

The movie Maleficent (2014) was helmed by director Robert Stromberg and written by Linda Woolverton. The film centers around the titular character, a formidable fairy residing in the enchanted Moors, which shares a border with a neighboring human kingdom. In her youth, Maleficent meets a peasant boy named Stefan and they fall in love. However, as they grow older, their paths diverge – Stefan’s affection is overshadowed by his desire for power and control as king, while Maleficent becomes determined to protect the Moors. When the human King Henry attempts to conquer the Moors, Maleficent defends her home and gravely wounds him, causing him to retreat. On his deathbed, King Henry offers his throne and daughter’s hand in marriage to anyone who can defeat Maleficent. Stefan ultimately visits Maleficent in the Moors and betrays her by drugging her, but he cannot bring himself to follow through with killing her.

Instead of simply accepting defeat, he cruelly severs her wings and presents them to Henry as evidence of her demise. In the midst of processing this ultimate betrayal, Maleficent comes to the aid of Diaval, a raven who was about to be killed by a farmer. By transforming him into a human, she saves his life and gains an ally. Through Diaval’s reports, she learns of Stefan’s coronation and becomes infuriated upon discovering the truth behind her loss of wings. This fuels her transformation into a dark and resentful protector of the Moors. Sometime after this, Diaval informs her of Stefan’s daughter’s christening. Without invitation, Maleficent appears at the ceremony and places a curse on the newborn princess – that on her sixteenth birthday, she will prick her finger on a spindle and fall into an eternal slumber. Despite Stefan’s pleas for mercy, Maleficent taunts him but does offer one potential solution – that true love’s kiss can break the curse. However, both she and Stefan believe this to be impossible.