Nappily Ever After is a 2018 comedy/drama about a woman raised to obsess over appearance, soon to learn that it doesn’t always open the doors she hoped.
WHAT IT’S ABOUT: Violet Jones (Sanaa Lathan) is a beautiful woman with a successful career in advertising and a doctor boyfriend Clint (Ricky Whittle) whom she believes is about to pop the question. Thing is, at a huge public party where all her gal friends and her mother (Lynn Whitfield) have gathered to witness the proposal, things go south when Clint offers something else entirely. With things crashing all around her, she lets Clint go and soon finds herself starting over, her hair leading the way. See, since she was a child, her mother demanded perfection, leaving Violet always a looker but never able to let loose and have fun, fearful her pristine exterior would tarnish. Now alone as an adult, the truth about that philosophy has reared its ugly head and Violet is faced with making some drastic changes. But can she find happiness?
QUICKE REVIEW: Mostly light and somewhat pleasantly predictable, Nappily Ever After is a genuinely fun watch with a terrific turn from Lathan, who is on screen for nearly every scene. She’s believable and endlessly charming, giving Violet a lot of heart and vulnerability as she discovers her flaws. While the film tends slip often into the fable-esque side of things a bit, this is afterall just such a story and director Haifaa Al-Mansour does well in keeping it light and connectable. Read our full review here.
THAT FACE IN THE MIRROR MOMENT: Even though this moment occurs fairly early in the movie and the marketing pretty much gives away the twist, I will just say that what follows might be considered a spoiler, even though the whole story hinges on what happens and the consequences of such. That said I genuinely think this might be my favorite movie moment of the year and deserves a better look.
After Clint doesn’t come through with an expected proposal, Violet learns why, and it’s a little shattering to think that all she’s done to be the ‘perfect’ woman has actually made her less of one. She gave two years to Clint and it fell apart, leaving her second guessing her motivations. So … she makes some minor changes, donning new hairstyles to try and reflect her fresh approach, an early blonde look designed simply to get her laid. However, even that goes off the rails, ending in a bruised ego (and a gash on a guy’s forehead) and a sad walk in the rain.
Once home, with her hair a frazzled mess and a bottle of wine taking off the edge, Violet takes a long look in the mirror and let’s just say, she’s not all that taken by what she sees. She first tries to comb out the tangles, itself a bit of a metaphor, then takes another look, up close, and it’s here where Violet breaks. That’s when she spots the electric trimmer on the counter and in a moment of detachment, leans in hard to metamorphosis, sweeping the whirling blades over her scalp and stripping her head free of all her hair.
WHY IT MATTERS: I can’t stress enough how impactful this stirring four-minute sequence is and how it so totally separates itself from the rest of the film. It’s the most liberating, most emotionally exhausting transformation I’ve seen in movies since well, maybe that sequence in An American Werewolf in London, albeit to entirely different results of course.
It works for two reasons. First, Lathan, who absolutely commands our attention. Watch what she puts Violet through as the character commits to the act, in a wild gesture of rebellion, beating back everything she was raised to be. Each swing of the trimmer busting down decades of hard-built walls, her face reflecting an incredible range of expressions that travel us through pain, sorrow, guilt, and then joy. This is a sensational performance, riveting yes, but more so, as Lathan actually cuts off her own hair, making it even more deeply personal. This isn’t necessarily a new thing in movies, with a few notable cases of actors doing so, but this is, by leagues, the most impactful. It’s mesmerizing and incredibly affecting.
Second, look at how Al-Mansour frames and decorates this shot. She keeps Violet right in our face, as if we are the mirror, challenging us not to judge her actions, to look at this woman for who she is, not how she looks. It’s a little uncomfortable at first because most of us can’t imagine doing this to ourselves, but more importantly, it forces us to look Violet in the eye and accept her rash choice as a passage to freedom. That’s powerful. Added to this is the beautiful bit of music chosen for the scene, The Cinematic Orchestra‘s resonating To Build A Home, a sensual, cleansing bit of music that strikes the perfect chord for the transformation.
Nappily Ever After isn’t a groundbreaking movie or even all that memorable for it’s story, a Netflix original that fits nicely into the genre but probably won’t be of any lasting significance. However, this one moment in front of a mirror does and should be remembered for what it represents and how it is filmed, elevating the entire experience well beyond expectations. If anything, watch this movie just for this one scene and see why it’s one of the best movie moments of the year. Or any.