This is a follow-up on my last post (Princess Cut, May 24, 2023). I strongly suggest reading it first. I actually plan to write a more in-depth post on spiritual abuse coming up very soon, so if that interests you more, you can just wait for that, but if you are interested in my follow-up to the courtship movie Princess Cut, please read on (you can still read my upcoming post on spiritual abuse if you read this!).
I decided to finish the series and watch the whole Princess Cut trilogy, and felt I needed to interact with them as well.
The second movie, Princess Cut 2, Hearts on Fire, was a very pleasant surprise. If you read my last post, you read a critique. This one was much more enjoyable to me, and I only really have a few small criticisms. Part of it was that this movie wasn't about courtship (a controversial topic!). The characters in this movie had better chemistry. Like the first one, the score and cinematography were beautiful.
This movie opens with Grace (from the first movie), now a wife to Clint Masters, and working as a nurse in his free clinic (which is having financial troubles). We are reintroduced to Grace's brother Robert (the older of her two younger brothers), who is now married to a woman named Lauren. This story centers more on Robert and Lauren. Lauren is expecting their first child. Robert is very committed to working on the family farm. Lauren owns a successful store in town, and wants to expand. We sadly learn that Grace and Robert's father passed away two years before this story starts, and it is implied that he died from working too hard on the farm. We don't know how much time has passed from the first movie, but Grace and Clint have a daughter named Paige, who appears to be at least five or six. The farm isn't doing too well. It is in terrible debt, and Robert has postponed his completion of college to help. Grace and Roberts youngest brother, Drew, is in college now, and he reveals that he changed his major from Agriculture to English lit, and that he has no plans to return to farm life. This can be a real blow to the farm. Lauren is frustrated by the family's strong ties to the farm, and her mother-in-law's stubborn insistence it never be sold or let go.
Tessa (Grace's kind of mean friend from the first movie) calls and invites her and Lauren over. They learn that she is living with her wealthy boyfriend Devon in a very well-to-do lifestyle. She has just moved in with him. Grace decides to make her a "house warming" gift, a plaque with a Bible verse on it. She keeps it at the clinic until she has the chance to give it to her friend.
Then, tragedy strikes. A tornado hits. Grace and her daughter Paige are at the clinic when this happens, and grace gets trapped under some rubble. She urges Paige to run home to safety, which she does. The rest of the family has all gone to the cellar on the farm, and are safely underground. Paige makes it to them, and they wait out the storm.
A montage (which I had to watch a couple of times, because it was confusing) reveals that Grace was killed in the tornado. That kind of shocked me. I wasn't expecting that. Grace was the only casualty in the town. Eventually, in their grief, Clint and Paige head to Colorado for a while and are not seen again until the end.
Tessa is devastated by her friends' death. There is a touching scene where she and Catherine (Grace's mother) embrace and cry together. Tessa also discovers she is pregnant.
Catherine goes to search through the rubble at the clinic, and finds the plaque Grace had made for Tessa. Not knowing it was for Tessa, but recognizing it as Grace's work, she takes it as a gift from God to her. Lauren sees it, and gently tells her it was intended for Tessa. Catherine grudgingly allows Lauren to take it to her, and you see the beginning's of tension between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. We also learn the farm is destroyed, and Catherine moves in with Robert and Lauren.
Tessa tells Devon she is pregnant, and he becomes very upset, so she quickly tells him she was kidding, and just wanted to see his reaction. However, she does reveal her pregnancy to him shortly after, and he gives her a choice--the baby or him.
Lauren brings the plaque to Tessa. Tessa, having just lost her friend and now facing the choice between her baby and Devon, is angry and hostile at first, but eventually breaks down, and she and Lauren hug. Lauren discovers Tessa's pregnancy, and, being pregnant herself, they have a bond over being pregnant together.
We see Catherine becoming more and more unsettled, and taking over more and more of Robert and Lauren's home.
Lauren's store is a success, and she wants to expand with a second location. Robert is hesitant, but says yes, and Lauren hires Tessa to help her. Their friendship starts to really take off.
Lauren collapses at one point, and is taken to the hospital, but she and the baby are said to be fine, and that she probably just and a blood pressure spike. She and Robert see their baby on ultrasound.
There is another montage, this one just showing happiness for everyone. Things are on an upward swing.
After this happy montage, Catherine is seen breaking down, really not coping well with having lost her home and daughter. She is determined that they rebuild their farm and keep it going. Robert determines to fulfill his mother's wishes. Lauren is frustrated by this. Tessa encourages Lauren to find out what the farm is actually worth, which she does. She discovers it might be worth millions, which, if they sold it, could relieve a lot of the family's hardships.
Tessa goes home to discover another woman in the house. Her name is Marisa ("with one S"). It is determined she is Devon's new girlfriend. Tessa angrily leaves, not sure where to go or what to do.
While Lauren is home with Robert and Catherine, the land developer she had talked to about the farm's worth stops by with additional info, This upsets Catherine, and a family argument ensues. Lauren collapses again, and this time miscarries their baby. This is shown with a short montage, though, so again, it was hard to figure out what was happening. In the aftermath of this, Lauren has a mental breakdown and orders Catherine out of her home, and screams at her husband she can't take it anymore, and begins packing a suitcase, but she collapses in his arms, and he comforts her. Lauren apologize to Catherine for how she spoke to her, and Catherine demonstrates great compassion and understanding. The two women are able to grieve together the losses of their children. It is a very touching scene that had me in tears.
As Lauren heals, she tries to connect with Tessa, but discovers she has left Devon. Tessa eventually finds Lauren at the store, and she expresses how selfish she feels being hurt by Devon when Lauren had a much worse pain of miscarriage. Lauren says a line I love, "We're not graded on our pain." The two maintain their friendship.
Robert still says he is giving up on college, but urges Lauren to pursue that second store location. He gives a very sweet speech that basically tells Lauren, "Whether I'm in my dream job or not, whether we have ten children or none, God has blessed me beyond my wildest dreams, because I have you." They determine to follow after the Lord together.
They invite Tessa to stay with them, which she accepts.
The movie ends with yet another montage of Lauren writing a letter (that had me in tears) to her baby in Heaven. We are shown that Clint and Paige return, and a new clinic opens, named after Grace. We are shown that Tessa had her baby.
This was a powerful film with real, deep emotion (whereas in the first movie, the emotions felt forced). This movie showed raw pain, and the characters holding onto their faith, whereas the first one was more didactic. As a sequel, it may be one of the best I've ever seen (aside from the Back to the Future sequels, of course!). My only complaint is all the montages to get the harder points across, because it made it unclear what was happening. It could have explained better.
Princess Cut 3, Beauty from Ashes focuses more on Tessa. The movie opens with Tessa working as a waitress. She is very stressed, having her boss on her case, and getting customer's orders wrong. Her boss has a talk with her that her single-mom schedule is affecting her work, and she needs to do better. We learn that she now has an apartment for herself and her baby boy Ian. She goes home to her son and the babysitter, and they witness a neighbor beating his girlfriend. Tessa reports it to the police. At first, she is hesitant to make a statement, but she does. The man is tried, but is let off. Tessa is afraid she is in danger. In the process, she gets to know the police officer involved, Mike Coleman. He ends up asking her out, and they start spending time together. He also helps her get a graphic design job that helps her financially. He shares with Tessa that he arrested the police chief's son for domestic violence, even with the department pressuring him to let it go. He has suffered for this. He also shares with her about how he let a man go who ended up causing an accident, killing a woman and child, and how he carries that guilt.
Drew is back on the farm after all. He is interested in the girl next door, Ariana. She works with Tessa at the restaurant, and plays the guitar and sings. Drew gets her a new guitar, and they seem to have a rapport and chemistry. It builds throughout the movie. Toward the end of the movie, Ariana reveals she is hoping to go to a music school in another part of the country. Drew is distraught at the idea of her leaving, and proposes to her. She rejects his proposal, and he is devastated.
Lauren and Robert are in this movie, and Lauren is pregnant again. She and Tessa are still close, and when Tessa confesses to Lauren that she isn't sure if Mike is her type, Lauren tells her, "The person you marry becomes your soulmate." I love that line. Lauren is given the best lines in this whole trilogy (and she's only in two of the movies. Maybe she's what was missing from the first one!)
We learn the man who beat up his girlfriend is getting out of jail, and Tessa is in danger. She is trying to get into a new apartment, but can't until the graphic design job pays, and they end up going under and unable to pay.
While Mike is watching Ian, they go to the store to get snacks, and a young man tries to shoplift. Mike wrestles him to the ground and stops him. He is arrested. Tessa is furious that he went into action like that with her son there. worried she could have endangered him. They have a fight, and Tessa tells him to leave.
The man who was arrested for beating his girlfriend on Tessa's testimony runs into her, and threatens her. She tells him he isn't a good man, and God sees who he really is. He tells her not to preach at him, and she responds, "I wouldn't know how, but I know you're not a good man." The encounter ends, but later, he is outside Tessa's apartment making trouble, when Mike shows up and tries to stop him. He beats Mike up, and Tessa discovers Mike unconscious and bloody on her doorstep. He is taken the hospital, in critical condition. In his car was a bouquet of flowers for Tessa, and an engagement ring.
Tessa goes to Mike's bedside in the hospital and prays, begging for understanding. The next morning, Tessa goes to the hospital to see him again, and an orderly is stripping his bed, leading the viewer to think he is dead, but it turns out he is fine, in a wheelchair. He proposes to Tessa in the hospital, and she accepts. Until the wedding, she will live with Catherine. There is a sweet friendship scene with Tessa and Lauren, after which Lauren goes into labor. The next scene is her holding her baby boy, with Robert's arms around them both.
Ariana's audition for the music school goes better than expected, and Catherine urges Drew to congratulate her. They talk about having wisdom in relationships. Catherine tells him "God's best is worth waiting for."
Ariana sings at Mike and Tessa's wedding. Tessa is a beautiful bride. Mike makes a vow to father Ian, and then vows to be a godly husband to Tessa. When you see how far Tessa has come since the first movie, it's very touching.
Drew looks longingly at Ariana at the reception. Tessa tells him he'll have his turn one day. The credits begin to roll. Drew's story with Ariana is not wrapped up, which makes me wonder if they are making another movie. I kine of hope so now. This third movie was very good. Tessa is a very likable character by this time. It made me feel bad for how much I disliked her in the first one! The things that happened were a little predictable (guy and girl fall for each other, become vulnerable, then a conflict/breakup, a disaster, and when it's almost too late, a reconciliation), but it's still a very good story.
On this series as a whole: they are virtuous with enduring characters (especially if you can make it past the first film). In the first movie, you really do like Mr. and Mrs. Anderson. They are sweet people. It is sad when you find out Mr. Anderson is deceased in the second movie. Even though Grace was hard for me to relate to, it was hard to see her die in the second movie. I think Lauren and Robert's story was a lot more natural and real than Grace and Clint's. And Tessa and Mike's story is the most raw and real, one of true redemption. These movies are about Christian people who have Christian ideals, but the Gospel isn't clearly presented. You know that Tessa doesn't seem Christian early on, but by the end of the third movie, she is a professing Christian, but you don't really see a salvation experience, which makes it confusing and vague. They could have made that clearer. I recommend this series, though, as I said, the first one is kind of a doozie. By recommending it, I don't take back my review of the first one!
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