‘Maleficent’ Had a Rape Scene

There’s one scene in Maleficent that sees Angelina Jolie’s character drugged by the man she loves and has her wings removed taking away her ability to fly. It’s a metaphor for rape.

“We were very conscious, the writer and I, that [the scene in question] was a metaphor for rape,” Jolie said. “The core of [“Maleficent”] is abuse, and how the abused have a choice of abusing others or overcoming and remaining loving, open people.”

In the film, Maleficent curses her former lover’s daughter, Aurora, as a baby. The filmmakers wanted to explore what could make a woman so dark, “to lose all sense of her maternity, her womanhood and her softness.” The answer? With rape, obviously.