There are several fairy tales that make a greater impression on adults than on children. The latter have a wonderful time at the screening, while the parent accompanying them experiences catharsis. I have seen and heard of several fathers who cried in the cinema during the third part of “Toy Story”.

Andy, the protagonist of “Toy Story” and the owner of the toys, is a teenager leaving home to attend university. He has to part with his toys. That is how a child will tell the story. An adult sees that Andy is parting with something far more precious: childhood. And when, at the end of the film, he decides to give his beloved toy, Woody the cowboy, to another child, we know that he has bravely coped with the first step toward maturity and adulthood. It may be a little fairy tale, but there is so much philosophy and wisdom about life in it.

For me, “Tangled” is such an exceptional fairy tale for adults. The story of Rapunzel, the little princess with golden hair, is a story about how bad and complicated relationships between a child and a parent can be. And about how parents can turn out to be adoptive stepmothers and stepfathers who, for their own selfish purposes, condemn a child to eternal isolation.

Rapunzel is magical: her hair restores the youth of anyone who brushes it. For this reason, the girl was stolen from her parents by an evil witch. The woman raises Rapunzel while deceiving her into believing that she is her mother. Because the child loves the impostor unconditionally, the witch can lock her in a tower so that she will never discover her own worth or grow up. For then she would deprive the witch of the only thing she cares about—beauty.

The exploited girl, treated like an object, grows up in confinement until a… handsome thief, like a prince, appears and falls in love with her, even though the girl hit him with a frying pan as soon as they met.

There are quite a few modern-day Rapunzels in the world. Of both sexes. An example may be Adult Children of Alcoholics—people who grew up in families with an alcohol problem—who can see themselves as valuable people, rather than objects from which strength and love were drawn for many years without giving anything in return, only after therapy.

Other Rapunzels from “good homes,” in turn, choose their work, partner or university based on their parents’ unspoken wishes and make only decisions about their own lives that conform to parental standards. Or they hide their true selves, pretending to their parents to be someone other than who they really are.

And none of these false parents will ever free the child from the locked tower. Nor will they tell the child about the gift they possess. Every Rapunzel, male or female, has to escape confinement alone. It is nice if some prince (or princess) appears. But life is not a fairy tale. Most often, you have to manage the escape on your own.

And I think that is why the fairy-tale Rapunzel’s adventures move us so much, and why we care so deeply that her story ends well. The story is excellently written and directed. Dan Fogelman received an Annie Award nomination for the screenplay—an animated Oscar. Maciej Stuhr, as Flynn, is a charming rascal who will win the hearts of many mothers. Dad will not be disappointed by Rapunzel, and the child will watch a wise fairy tale.

Encore morning screening, Saturday, September 10, at 12:15 p.m.

Grażyna Hanaf