Zabí král (1991)

A king and his queen have three daughters. According to a fairy’s prophecy, a monster will rise from the water and flood the entire land with a torrent of tears unless the king’s daughters marry in order of birth, each wedding taking place 13 moons after the last. The eldest princess is already married, and the wedding of the second-born is imminent. Many noble guests arrive for the occasion, including a prince who has already broken several ladies’ hearts, among them that of the older sister. He has heard that the youngest of the three princesses is especially beautiful. She, however, has no interest in marrying. She would much rather be a man, so she always goes about dressed as a boy. Her behavior also leaves much to be desired, and her tutor, Hippolytus, presses the king and queen to let him draw up a strict program of instruction for her. But the royal couple remain indulgent. The prince arrives at the palace for the wedding ball. Rose, the princess’s maid, plays a prank and describes the princess to Heinrich, the prince’s servant, as an ugly girl with a crooked figure, crossed eyes, a bad temper, a big nose, and a limp. The prince is accordingly astonished by the princess’s lovely appearance when she splits his arrow while they are shooting at targets. At a hunt afterward, they ride side by side, to the king and queen’s delight. In a secluded part of the forest, the prince tries to kiss the princess. She slaps him and rides off. Meanwhile, the prince sits at the foot of a well in a gorge, fed by a small waterfall. When he falls asleep, the fairy of the well appears. She tells him that she will turn him into a frog if he breaks another heart, or if anyone sheds even one more tear over him. Only the love of a faithful woman will then be able to free him. When the prince wakes, he thinks he has merely had a bad dream and does not take the fairy’s words seriously. Back at the palace, the princess is still indignant that the prince tried to kiss her. Rose finally makes her realize that she has fallen in love with him. After that, the princess is like a different person. To everyone’s astonishment, she appears in a white dress at another dance rehearsal. At the wedding ball, she agrees to dance with the prince. A countess, who had hoped the prince would ask her to dance, watches them in disappointment. When the prince tries to kiss the princess in the garden, she runs away again. The next day, the prince is drawn back to the well in the forest. To his surprise, the countess arrives there too. Provoked by her cutting remarks, the prince reverts to his old womanizing ways and kisses her. The princess, who has followed him, sees him kissing the countess and runs off in tears. When the prince drinks from the well, the fairy appears and pushes him into the water. In an instant, the prince turns into a large frog. When he does not return to the palace, the princess blames herself for always having rejected him so harshly. Even so, she believes that the prince will come back to her one day. So she turns away every other prince presented to her as a potential husband. Shortly before 13 moons have passed since the wedding ball, the princess goes to the well in the forest, as she has so often before, carrying a golden ball. When she accidentally drops it into the well and begins to cry, the frog appears. He retrieves the ball from the bottom of the well, but demands something in return. He wants to dine beside her at the palace, sleep in her bed, and receive a kiss from her. The princess gives him her word and hurries away with the ball. The frog reaches the palace well by way of a river and as a stowaway in a carriage. On the evening when the 13 moons are up, the people gather outside the palace with torches and pitchforks, demanding that the princess be forced to marry to avert the foretold calamity. The frog appears before the people and the nobles. He demands that the princess keep her promise. She gives in, lets him dine beside her, and leads him to her bedchamber. There, she forces herself to kiss the frog. At that moment, lightning flashes over the palace and the clock strikes midnight. The frog has become a prince again. Fireworks begin, and the people cheer. The next day, the prince and princess ride away happily in a carriage.