Enchanted (2007) was a criminally underrated Disney film and seems like it’s finally gotten some of the attention it deserves in the last couple years. I can go on and on about what makes this film so fantastic, but what I’m going to focus on for this review is the relationship between the two main characters, Giselle and Robert, and their original love interests, Edward and Nancy.
If there’s one common cliche in romantic films that I will always find frustrating, it’s the “love triangle”. Too often, whenever this trope is used, there is always one character involved that the audience becomes frustrated with. However, despite having a love quadruplet rather than a love triangle, Enchanted wrote the relationships between the four characters wonderfully, by breaking the common trope in unconventional ways and making us love all four characters.
As is in many love triangles, Robert is the main male character who starts off the film already in a long, committed relationship with someone (Nancy), but while in this relationship, falls in love with the female protagonist, Giselle. However, as opposed to most love triangles, the film is very careful to show that, despite his feelings for Giselle, Robert makes an effort to remain faithful to Nancy. After this unfortunate scenario that Nancy walks in on when she first meets Giselle:
Nancy gets the wrong idea and storms off. This isn’t something that Robert takes lightly. He chases after her as she leaves in the cab, is visibly upset with Giselle afterwards, asks Sam at his work to let him know if Nancy calls, and expresses his worry to Giselle that his relationship might be ruined. After Nancy receives the flowers and tickets to the ball, he’s clearly pleased that she is so happy, but doesn’t use that as a way out. He addresses the problem and reassures her that nothing happened between him and Giselle. And it’s true! In fact, Robert doesn’t seem to even realize his feelings for Giselle until after their argument, when they almost kiss.
His feelings are very clear here, yet he is the one who pulls away.
The first moment where Robert makes a purposeful, romantic move towards Giselle is not until the true love’s kiss. After Edward’s kiss doesn’t work, he insists that Robert kiss her. Even then, Robert refuses until Nancy herself tells him to kiss Giselle.
Robert’s faithfulness to Nancy in no way undermines his and Giselle’s relationship. All it does is build the romantic tension while also keeping Robert as the type of romantic interest we can all root for.
And the film makes us root for Giselle and Robert without making Nancy a villain- another common trope that is subverted. Too often in love triangles, the “other woman” is absolutely awful for no reason. In my opinion, this is somewhat lazy. Yes, it puts the main couple in the underdog position for the audience to root for. Who wouldn’t want the Main Male Character to end up with the Main Female Character when he’s stuck in a relationship with such an awful woman? But, do he and the female character have chemistry? Is she even a good significant other, or is she just better than the alternative? Enchanted avoids this by making Nancy a genuinely good girlfriend. She clearly cares for Robert and is wanting to be in their relationship for the long run.
The movie even plays with the “evil stepmother” trope. Morgan is a girl who values and believes in fairytales. So, naturally, she’s none too thrilled when she finds out that Nancy will become her stepmother- a character who is always evil in fairy tales. Nancy’s last name is even Tremaine, after Lady Tremaine, the evil stepmother in Cinderella. But Nancy isn’t evil and she makes an effort to create a closer relationship with Morgan.
This emphasizes the divide between fairytale world, where the villain (Narissa) really is an evil stepmother, and the real world. Making Nancy a good, realistic character not only subverts the “evil other woman” trope, but it validates the ending pairings even more by making Robert and Nancy two great, well-written people who just so happen to not be right for each other.
Although not given as much screen time, the hints that Edward is more Nancy’s type than Robert are seen pretty clearly throughout the film. Throughout the whole movie, we really only know about Nancy and Robert’s relationship through Robert’s point-of-view. What stands out when he talks about them is the lack of romance that he doesn’t feel is needed. When we first see Nancy’s take on relationships, it’s a completely different story. I’m referring to the scene (after the How Does She Know musical number) when Nancy receives the flowers (via doves) and the tickets for the ball. She is ecstatic by how romantic and spontaneous it is and is, most importantly, surprised. She insinuates that Robert doesn’t often do this kind of romantic stuff. Robert’s own surprise over her reaction insinuates that he doesn’t know what she wants as much as he thought. Nancy even tells Robert outright, “this is so unlike you”, but she’s happy about it. Not only does this show that she hasn’t been with the type of man she truly desired, but it also insinuates an unhealthy relationship- she’s not in love with the real Robert like Giselle is, just the romantic side of him that wasn’t even his doing. In fact it was Giselle’s doing- a classic fairytale-like romantic gesture, the kind of thing that makes her fall for Edward.
Previously, Robert had stated to Giselle that he and Nancy don’t really talk about how they love each other all that much. He seems to indicate that they are both okay with this. However, when Nancy first meets Edward at the ball and hears the way he introduces Giselle (“the love of my life, my heart’s true desire”) she not only calls it “romantic” but “straightforward”.
The surprise and wistfulness in her reaction indicates that she actually does desire a relationship with declarations of love.
It isn’t until after her dance with Robert, when she cuts in his and Giselle’s dance, that she realizes he’s not the one for her. At some point in the dance they pause, and she kisses him. Look at the way she pulls away:
That is the face of someone realizing that there is no spark. She’s discontent and certainly not in love. By the end of this scene, she’s giving Robert permission to kiss Giselle, knowing that it’s their love that’s true.
The completion of Nancy’s arc is at the end of the film, when she finds Giselle’s shoe. Edward asks her what’s wrong and she responds with, “she left her shoe…figures”. She seems envious- not necessarily of Giselle, but of the fairytale life she lived. So when Edward slips the shoe on her foot, she has a sudden moment of realization: she can live a fairytale life with this romantic prince.
Her wearing Giselle’s shoe is like a passing of the torch and how fitting that this Cinderella moment be given to a stepmother named Tremaine who actually deserves a happy ending. So she goes all in: she leaves her old life behind, goes to Andalasia and marries Edward. She marries this prince that she’s only known for a few hours- exactly like what Giselle was going to do. While Giselle ends the movie realizing she is meant in the real world, Nancy ends it realizing she is meant for fairytale world, and they switch places.
Most opposites attract couples aren’t pulled off very well. The differences are either ignored or passed off as simply differences in personality and nothing deeper. However, Giselle and Robert’s differences not only affect their personality, but how they view the world. And while those differences sometimes lead to conflict, they were ultimately used to learn from each other.
Giselle provides the ultimate juxtaposition in this film: a happy-go-lucky, cliche Disney princess stuck in rough-n-tough New York. She has lived her whole life in a cartoon fairytale world where there are always happy endings. So her introduction to the “real world” is pretty harsh. And a lot of those harsh lessons are given to her by Robert.
He teaches her about divorce, anger, and conflict- in fact she’d never even felt anger until she met him.
However, she’d also never felt true love until she met him. He unknowingly teaches her about true love by teaching her that relationships are complex and layered. People aren’t just idealistic fairytale characters- they’re complicated; but that makes them all the more interesting.
This lesson is what drives Giselle toward Robert and away from Edward. When Edward and Giselle first meet, she’s immediately infatuated with him without even knowing him, and she calls that love.
However, once she learns about real love from her experiences with Robert, there exists a disconnection between her and Edward once they reunite. Giselle introduces Edward to Robert and Morgan and instead of engaging with them Edward immediately starts singing their song. But this time, Giselle seems slightly uncomfortable and distant and she doesn’t join in.
During their date, the disconnection is even stronger, as Edward wants out of the real world as soon as he can and Giselle desires to stay as long as she can.
When Narissa finds Giselle at the ball, she acts understanding of Giselle’s situation:
Giselle now knows what true love really is- and she can’t have it. Narissa then tells Giselle that the poison apple is magic and will make her forget her time in the real world. She’ll go back to Andalasia with “just sweet dreams and happy endings” and marry Edward. This is what she wanted to begin with, but no longer. She can’t be truly happy married to Edward if she still loves Robert, so she bites the apple, because forgetting about true love is easier than knowing about it but never being able to have it. And because she believes in true love so strongly, when she’s woken up with true love’s kiss, there’s no doubt in her that it was Robert.
Robert has been surrounded by failing marriages his whole adult life- not only in his career as a divorce lawyer, but also in his own marriage as well. He has been deeply hurt by his wife leaving him. This has made him jaded about love. When he’s first introduced, he’s trying to leave a deposition with an arguing couple and can’t get out of there fast enough. This is the conversation he has afterward with Sam, his assistant:
There’s a lack of romance in his relationship with Nancy that he’s comfortable with (and clearly a lack of understanding, as Nancy ends the film marrying Edward on “a crazy romantic whim”).
So when Giselle shows up believing in true love and happy endings so strongly, he at first finds it absolutely ridiculous. She makes a mess of things (with Nancy, with his job) so he tries to send her away, but she’s so genuinely kind and sincere, that he finds himself keeping her around. He becomes endeared by her enthusiasm about everything. When they have their conversation about love, he explains that relationships are complicated. She responds that it doesn’t have to be. In a way, they're both right. Yes, relationships are more complicated than Giselle thinks, but Robert could make it so much simpler if he just showed his love through romantic gestures, as Giselle lists in in her song about how you know when a guy loves you:
He'll find his own way to tell you with the little things he'll do
Throughout the film, Robert shows his love towards Giselle in his own ways- by opening up about his past, by including her in his life, by protecting her from harm. He’s depicted as a bit of a grump, but he softens up more and more when he’s around her.
Well, does he take you out dancing just so he can hold you close?
Dedicate a song with words meant just for you?
Because he'll wear your favorite color just so he can match your eyes
Rent a private picnic by the fire's glow
Throughout this song, we are given foreshadowing for Robert’s actions towards Giselle, showing that he loves her instead of Nancy. In the end, we see that Giselle has truly changed him to believe in true love, as he mirrors her words that “true love’s kiss is the most powerful thing in the world” and uses it to wake her up.
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