madeline

Director: daisy von scherler mayer

Actor: frances mcdormand,nigel hawthorne,hatty jones,ben daniels

Data Published: Fri Jul 10 1998

Genres: Comedy,Family

Key Words: title directed by female,key,character name as title,girl wears eyeglasses,thinking

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0123987/

WIKI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeline_(1998_film)

Description: Madeline is a movie starring Frances McDormand, Nigel Hawthorne, and Hatty Jones. Horrified at the prospect of her beloved school being sold, a young French girl uses her wit and craftiness to attempt to save it, making an unlikely...

Plot: In 1956 Paris, France, a young girl named Madeline attends a boarding school run by Miss Clavel, a no-nonsense, strict, but caring nun. She is the only orphan and wishes she had a family since her parents died when she was very small. She goes on daily walks, eats her favorite meal, "Chicken Hélène" (a chicken dish named after the cook, Hélène, who makes it), and often causes mischief for Miss Clavel. One night, Miss Clavel feels that something is not right, so she runs up to the girls' room and finds Madeline groaning in pain on her bed. Quickly, Hélène dials the hospital, who explains to Miss Clavel that they must take out Madeline's appendix immediately. During her stay in the hospital overnight, after the surgery, Madeline wanders down the hallway, and finds Lady Covington. The two begin to talk, and Lady Covington reveals to Madeline that she carved her name under Madeline's bed, Marie Gilbert. She asks Madeline to see if it's still there. Their conversation is interrupted by the strict Lord Covington, who orders Madeline to leave. A few days later, when Madeline is ready to go, she and Miss Clavel discover that Lady Covington had died. She then sees a chicken in Hélène's car, and finds out that Chicken Hélène that will be served that night. When Madeline arrives back at school, she meets Pepito, the Spanish Ambassador's son, who is the main target of an evil kidnapper named Leopold who wants to collect money from the Ambassador since he's rich. That night, Madeline refuses to eat the chicken "Fred" because she made friends with him in the car. She turns almost all of the other girls against the chicken dish and make them vegetarians and cluck, which results in Miss Clavel sending the girls to bed without dinner, after a discussion with Covington about how he'll close the school down as he has resigned from his job due to his wife's death. The girls are eventually hungry so they sneak down to eat, only to get scared by Pepito, who appears disguised as a demon. When Miss Clavel and Hélène find the girls, they reluctantly decide to give them dinner. The next day, Miss Clavel goes to Pepito's house to offer him a toolbox and ends up talking with Leopold who is posing as Pepito's tutor. Then, Miss Clavel takes the girls to an art gallery where Pepito himself steals Madeline's drawing pad and writes "Beware" with a vicious drawing in it. The girls wonder why until Miss Clavel tells them that they have been invited to Pepito's birthday party. While there, Pepito shows the girls his menagerie and attempts to scare them by dangling a white baby mouse in front of them. It works on the other girls, but not on Madeline, as she is not afraid of mice. Pepito tries to scare her by preparing to feed it to his snake, but Madeline insists he's bluffing. Pepito calls it off and shows the girls his guillotine that he built with the tools in his new toolbox and almost executes the mouse. Madeline defends the mouse by pushing Pepito away. She releases the other caged mice in retaliation, and this causes the girls to run in horror and subsequently causes an approaching Miss Clavel to faint. Madeline starts to fight Pepito, but Miss Clavel stops her and insists they leave. On their way out, Madeline steals Pepito's motorcycle keys to get even with Pepito. Later in class, the girls are forced to write lines, explaining their behavior. On their walk, Madeline accidentally falls into the Seine and is rescued by a stray dog, whom she names Genevieve. Madeline catches a cold, and when Miss Clavel and the girls leave on their walk, she hears Pepito complaining he doesn't have his keys. Leopold starts it with a paper clip instead. Meanwhile, Genevieve finds Madeline and the two try to hide from Lord Covington who is showing the house. Eventually, Miss Clavel finds out about Genevieve, but compromises and says she can sleep in the shed and be kept, but she is not allowed to go in the school. Meanwhile, Madeline and Pepito sabotage the school, so visitors won't want to buy it. Lord Covington comes over that night, and has an argument with Miss Clavel about the school being sabotaged, but Madeline interrupts and admits she did it, trying to back up Miss Clavel, but making a Freudian slip by calling Lord Covington "Cucuface". On his way back home, Covington discovers the dog and turns Genevieve loose despite the pleads of the girls. They look for her the next day and go to a circus to cheer themselves up, but Madeline decides to run away with the circus because she feels lonely and wants a real home. She tells her best friend Aggie that she's leaving, and makes her swear not to tell a soul. Aggie swears and hugs her goodbye. Madeline walks away sadly and notices Leopold kidnapping Pepito with the help of the clowns called "The Idiots", since they were really Leopold's henchmen. Madeline tries to confront Leopold, who openly mocks and abducts her as well. Miss Clavel, not knowing they have been kidnapped, eventually finds out from Aggies that Madeline has run away and goes to find her. While on her way, she finds Genevieve and takes her along. The next day, Madeline and Pepito discover a motorcycle that the Idiots used in their act. She tells Pepito to drive it, since he drove one, but Pepito states that he drives a Vespa[notes 1] scooter, which is very different from a motorbike as it does not have gears. He is nonetheless convinced by Madeline, and the two use it to escape Leopold, who, along with the other Idiots, follows them. Miss Clavel sees them chasing them and goes after Leopold. Miss Clavel and Leopold are about to both hit Madeline and Pepito, but Pepito swerves away and Miss Clavel cuts Leopold off, making him and the Idiots crash into a nearby lake. The police arrive on the scene, the Idiots are arrested for kidnapping, and Pepito and Madeline are reunited with their families. But just when everything turns out right, Lord Covington comes once again and introduces the Ambassador of Uzbekistan (then part of the USSR), who agreed to buy the school. Madeline confronts Covington and convinces him that his wife is still with him, and in the school as well. Miss Clavel assures Madeline that whatever happens, they'll be together. But Covington denies this, who says that Madeline is right, and wishes he could do something about it, but has already sold the school. However, the Ambassador calls it off, letting everybody remain at the school. The movie ends with the girls running off, while Miss Clavel follows them. The live-action setting goes back to a storybook-like setting and the words "Fin" appear.