The Scarlet Flower’s (#ad) basic plot is a variation of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale with a number of differences. This article focuses on one particular scene that made me think and ask some questions about it.
A private conversation between Stefan and his friend
Stefan, the merchant and father of Nastenka (the ‘Beauty’ in this story), entrusts his 3 daughters to his friend as he speaks of having to return to the island where the Beast is (he has to return there as payment for the scarlet flower that he took without permission).Should you be surprised that the main character overhears a private conversation?
The 2 talk near the staircase and Nastenka happens to overhear their conversation. When this scene happened, I wasn’t at all surprised that Nastenka overheard her father and his friend, considering how near they were to where she was. I thought her two older sisters would have surely overheard the conversation too if they hadn’t been so preoccupied with their presents.Is this a plot hole in The Scarlet Flower movie?
I know one reason for that scene was to have Nastenka hear all about what’s going on (the other points being to show just how much Stefan loves his daughters since he won’t let any of them be the ones to go to the island to be with the Beast).But that scene seems somewhat contrived, since, with Stefan and his friend talking about important matters that Stefan clearly didn’t want his daughters to know about, you’d think that the 2 would have enough sense not to talk about such things while they were out in the open.
What was wrong with having that discussion in some other part of the house where Stefan’s daughters wouldn’t be around to accidentally overhear their entire conversation? What do you think?
*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by CoDLia (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Flowers in the image are meant to represent The Scarlet Flower
- YouTube video features a scene from the aforementioned movie