Princess Arete
August 20th, 2004
Arete has been kept locked in the tower of the castle where she lives for years, a pawn of her father’s advisors who send suitors to fetch magical treasures to swell the kingdom’s coffers. She longs to do something with her life, escaping into town when she can and trying to find out all she can about magic. However, a sorceror named Boax casts a spell on her that makes her totally docile (as the advisors say, “much more like a princess!”) and takes her to ostensibly marry her - however, it is truly because he had a vision that she would end his immortality, and he locks her up.
I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to work out roughly what’s going to happen next. However, there are some interesting little twists along the way in this supposedly feminist fantasy fable, based on a book called “The Clever Princess” by Diana Coles. I think it’s a misnomer to call it feminist, incidentally - while the female characters are those who are forward thinking and “good”, certainly, it’s not suggesting that all men are stupid and boorish, it’s anyone who doesn’t think for themselves that’s at fault.
Princess Arete is sloooow. Absolutely glacially paced, in fact. However, this isn’t actually much of a problem if you can adjust your attention span from the traditional 22 minute anime episode (it’s a struggle for me, anyway!), because it really is a rewarding, marvellous little gem. Studio 4C have created a beautiful storybook world with gorgeous background art and detail - the main message of the film is that everyone is an individual with their own skills, and so even the background characters are always doing something interesting. Arete is a great heroine, despite a frustrating half an hour of being a catatonic vegetable, and despite the almost total lack of action the film is always interesting and vibrant.
The music is especially interesting, given that it draws its influence mainly from Western baroque with some guitars creeping in occasionally. The best part is the image song “Krasno Sonshe”, sung in Russian by Origa (who sings the Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex opening themes) and is just great all round.
Argh, there’s nothing particularly objective about this, is there, I’m just gushing. Arete is not for everyone, it really is incredibly slow and could be accused of being boring, but if you stick with it I think you’ll be rewarded by an under-appreciated gem that certainly ranks with Ghibli in my books.