The Cinematheque

“A joy .. [The] film that set the template for strong-minded, boisterous, independent fairy-tale heroines more than fifty years ago.”

Pamela Hutchinson, Sight and Sound

Few fairy tale adaptations capture the renewable wonder of the many-times-told fable like the Czech yuletide classic Three Wishes for Cinderella. Božena Němcová’s version of the story—the basis for this adaptation—carefully rearranges the conditions of Cinderella’s transformation, and positions the character as an active hero in the narrative. The film, from its enchanting, freeze-framed opening credits sequence, is buoyant, though not purely light as air. Three Wishes grounds the cruelty of Cinderella’s stepmother and the composure of the Prince’s monarch parents in the same deterministic view of marriage as a means to maintain power. Cinderella’s wishes, realized with breathtaking simplicity, propel the plot while redefining those terms. In Libuše Šafránková’s iconic lead performance, she’s Robin Hood and Maid Marian in one, outsmarting elders and outperforming rivals, and doing so through subterfuge, wit, and with the aid of sublime costumes by Theodor Pistek (Amadeus).

In Czech with English subtitles

“Extraordinary … Supernatural powers are not the driving force behind [Three Wishes]; instead the heroine and hero act in accordance with their own free will, independently and consciously.”

Adéla Ficová and Karolína Stehlíková, Journal of Scandinavian Cinema