Rapunzel (2009)

mini|left|The Askanierturm in the Schorfheide served as a setting. A poor farmer and his wife are finally expecting a child after longing for one for a long time. But after eating lamb’s lettuce that the mother received from a sorceress, she becomes addicted to the enchanted greens, which the father can obtain only from the sorceress’s garden. After he asks her for lamb’s lettuce, the sorceress repeatedly gives him a full basket. One night, when the sorceress does not seem to be there, he steals the lettuce out of desperation, fearing that his wife’s and unborn child’s lives are at stake. But the sorceress catches him and blackmails him: he may take the lamb’s lettuce only if, in return, he promises her the child. For the time being, he keeps this from his wife. After their daughter is born, the sorceress secretly takes the child and names her Rapunzel. Following the incident, the parents leave the village and later find shelter in the king’s castle. The sorceress travels through the countryside with “her” child in a herb cart pulled by a donkey. It becomes apparent that as Rapunzel grows older, the sorceress grows younger, suggesting that the sorceress’s very existence depends on Rapunzel. When Rapunzel’s basket seems to have broken while they are gathering herbs near the sorceress’s tower, they make a detour to the king’s castle to get a new one. While the sorceress is away, Rapunzel has to wait in the herb cart and is not allowed to leave it. One day, while the two are near the castle and Rapunzel is waiting alone in the cart, the prince of the land falls into it while climbing a rope, and the two meet. He then persuades her to accompany him to the castle so he can show her his birds. When the prince is briefly away, the sorceress appears in the room and is furious that Rapunzel has secretly disappeared. Rapunzel asks why she cannot have other friends and says she feels “caged in” like the birds. Afraid of no longer having Rapunzel all to herself, the sorceress locks her in a remote tower in the forest. It can be climbed only by Rapunzel’s hair, as it has no door or stairs. Whenever the sorceress wants to go up, she calls, “Rapunzel, let down your hair!” Rapunzel then combs her hair with an enchanted golden comb so that it grows very long, braids it, and pulls the sorceress up. The prince, now 18 and forced to marry, has rejected every bride proposed to him so far. During a ride, he hears Rapunzel singing from the tower and sets off to find it. He has himself pulled up to the beautiful young woman Rapunzel has become, and Rapunzel remembers him after he breaks the spell of forgetfulness the sorceress had placed on her. From then on, they meet secretly, fall in love, and the prince wants to marry Rapunzel, who is also now 18. But the sorceress finds out because Rapunzel lets it slip, and she makes the prince fall from the tower, blinding him with her magic. The sorceress banishes Rapunzel to a storm in the forest and later to the scorching desert, hoping to persuade her to stay with her and keep away from the supposedly evil people. The sorceress’s donkey leads the blind prince as far as the forest. After that, he is left to find his way alone, feeling his way along until he finally reaches the desert. When the sorceress sees him and fears for the success of her plan to keep Rapunzel with her, she tries to deceive him, using Rapunzel’s voice to lure him to a ravine so she can finally kill him. It is only because he asks Rapunzel to sing her song at the crucial moment that she is able to save him from falling and find him in the desert. Although he has now found his beloved, he is still blind. In despair, Rapunzel weeps and moistens his blind eyes with her tears. His sight is restored, and the two are happily reunited. The sorceress realizes that Rapunzel has broken away from her and, once again an old woman, leaves the land in a rage with her cart. The prince takes Rapunzel to his parents, who, charmed by her beauty and relieved that their son has finally found a wife, agree to his wish to marry her. Rapunzel’s biological parents are now working at the king’s court; they recognize their child, and the family is reunited at the wedding.