The ‘Stranger Things’ and ‘Enola Holmes’ actress stars alongside Angela Bassett, Nick Robinson and Robin Wright.

When the young women lock eyes, a quiet intimacy blooms. Elodie (Millie Bobby Brown) doesn’t know the unnamed girl meeting her gaze from a balcony some distance away, but she feels connected to her. Their smiles awaken flashes of mutual recognition. They share a milky complexion and gentle regard. But this stranger is more than Elodie’s mirror; she is an eerie omen of the young princess’ fate.  

Like its predecessors, Damsel bluntly organizes itself around this powerful notion. The film, directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and written by Dan Mazeau, is about a headstrong woman from a vaguely sketched kingdom whose engagement (to a wealthier prince) takes an unexpected and near-fatal turn. Fresnadillo’s film puts on fewer airs of disruption than other versions of this story, so the narrative comes off as less self-satisfied. Still, it struggles to sustain an inspirational tenor.

In these times, marriage becomes the only other option. When Elodie and Floria return to the castle, their reserved father (Ray Winstone) and striving stepmother (Angela Bassett) announce that the eldest daughter will marry Prince Harry of Aurea (Nick Robinson). Never mind that Elodie has never heard of this kingdom or its royals. The family packs a ship and sails off to the more prosperous castle. Here and in other places, Mazeau’s screenplay suffers from a lack of details that would bolster the story. Damsel may have opened with a confident proclamation, but it falters as soon as the action starts. 

When Elodie and her family arrive at Aurea, the difference between this land and theirs is apparent. DP Larry Fong uses aerial shots to survey the landscape, a verdant terrain patterned with striking flora and textured with rugged mountains. We swoop into the castle, where the royal family lives a life of lavish charm. Amanda Monk’s costume design cleverly differentiates the status of the two families. Queen Isabelle (Robin Wright, appropriately slinky in a clever casting choice) courts Elodie and her father Lord Bayford with flattery and easy smiles, but malevolence lurks in the shadows. The politics of this fictional land boil down to an old story and an ancient curse. Centuries ago, a violent transgression forced the then-king of Aurea to make a pact with a dragon. Atonement would require the sacrifice of three daughters to the mythical reptile for eternity. 

So the union between Elodie and Prince Henry is a trap, a sinister plot to sacrifice the princess to the dragon. A similar fate befell the young nameless woman Elodie saw from her window the day of her arrival. Their interaction raises some questions, and one wonders if Elodie, for all her suggested intelligence, ever inquired about the existence of another princess in the castle.

Brown brings the same energy here as to her role in the Enola Holmes series. Elodie, like the Victorian-era detective, approaches puzzles with an inspired grit. Rooting for her is not complicated. As always, the Stranger Things actress’ strength as a performer lies in her expressiveness — the wide eyes of fear and grimaces of pain. Her portrayal, which has shades of Emilia Clarke’s Daenerys Targaryen, sustains a film that would have benefited from more depth, especially because its penultimate battle offers a moment of welcome cleverness. In that scene, Elodie gathers her strength to face the monster chasing her. Their encounter, a meeting at the threshold of life and death, is tense, but in their eye contact is something familiar: a chilling flash of mutual recognition.