The Brothers Grimm is a 2005 fantasy adventure film directed by Terry Gilliam. The film stars Matt Damon, Heath Ledger and Lena Headey in a heavily fictional reimagining of the Brothers Grimm as traveling con artists in Napoleonic French-occupied Germany, during the early 19th century. The brothers eventually encounter a genuine fairy-tale curse which requires courage instead of their usual bogus exorcisms. Supporting characters are played by Peter Stormare, Jonathan Pryce and Monica Bellucci. The film was a British–Czech international co-production, with the film being shot in the Czech Republic.
In February 2001, Ehren Kruger sold his spec script to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). With Gilliam's hiring as director, the script was rewritten by Gilliam and Tony Grisoni but the Writers Guild of America refused to credit them for their work. MGM eventually dropped out as distributor but decided to co-finance The Brothers Grimm with Dimension Films and Summit Entertainment, while Dimension took over distribution duties. Gilliam often had feuds with brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein, which caused the original theatrical release date to be delayed nearly ten months.
The Brothers Grimm was finally released on 26 August 2005 to mixed reviews and grossed $105.3 million at the worldwide box office.
Plot
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In 1811, Will and Jake Grimm are traveling con artists who use Jake's extensive knowledge of folklore to fool people into believing they exorcise the supernatural, along with their sidekicks Hidlick and Bunst, in French-occupied Germany. Italian torturer Mercurio Cavaldi captures them and takes them to French General Vavarin Delatombe. In exchange for amnesty, Delatombe charges the brothers with investigating the disappearances of several young girls from the village of Marbaden, on the assumption that it is the work of con artists like themselves.
At the village, the brothers enlist the help of fur trapper Angelika, whose younger sisters were the first to vanish. Angelika takes them to a tower in the nearby forest, which was built centuries prior by a vain Thuringian Queen in a failed attempt to escape the plague. That night, one of the brothers' horses, enchanted by a mysterious huntsman, abducts another girl Elsie from the village by swallowing her whole and fleeing into the forest. Angelika, the brothers, and Cavaldi give chase, but are unable to catch it. Angelika encounters a wolf which hesitates to attack her.
Cavaldi takes the brothers and Angelika back to Delatombe; but they are allowed to return to Marbaden when they convince the general that the forest's magic is actually caused by German rebels in hiding. In the forest, Jake successfully scales the tower, discovering it is encircled by twelve crypts. Inside, Jake discovers the Queen, extremely aged and decrepit but still alive, and is nearly seduced by a youthful vision of her reflected in her magic mirror. Meanwhile, in the village, a girl Sasha is attacked by a mud monster; it absorbs her before turning into a gingerbread man and disappearing into the well, despite Angelika and Cavaldi's efforts to save her. Sasha reappears in a pond near the tower; the wolf transforms into the huntsman and places her in one of the crypts. The brothers recue Sasha and narrowly escape, taking the huntsman's magic axe. The brothers return to the village but Sasha remains unconscious. Jake concludes the abducted girls are part of a magic ritual in conjunction with an upcoming lunar eclipse meant for the Queen to regain her youth and beauty.
Delatombe suddenly arrives, having beheaded Hidlick and Bunst; he arrests the brothers, decries them as frauds, and orders the forest burned down with them in it. Angelika rescues them and recognizes the axe as her father's. The huntsman is revealed to be Angelika's father, under the Queen's spell. Angelika falls into a nearby pond and vanishes, becoming the Queen's twelfth and final sacrifice. The Queen conjures a powerful wind, extinguishing the fire and scattering the French troops. Delatombe shoots Cavaldi when he refuses to kill the brothers; but he survives, having donned their faux-magic armor. Will fights against Delatombe and impales him.
In the tower, the Queen seduces Will, removing her control over the huntsman and placing it on him. Jake uses the huntsman's axe to smash the mirror. Angelika's father comes to his senses and destroys the rest of the mirror by jumping out of the window with it, killing the Queen. Jake awakens Angelika with a kiss, which in turn revives the others. The children are joyfully reunite with their families and the village celebrates. Will suggests a career change to Jake. A raven flies away carrying a shard of the mirror with a piece of the Queen's reflection.