London in the 1970s, with punk reshaping the streets and the runways alike, is the backdrop for Cruella, a 2021 American comedy-crime feature directed by Craig Gillespie. The story follows a young designer with a gift for both couture and con artistry, tracing how she becomes the figure whose name gives the film its title.
What is Cruella about?
Estella lives by her wits. Talented with fabric and scissors but short on money and connections, she survives through petty cons alongside two young thieves who share her taste for trouble, and the trio carve out a scrappy household of their own on the London streets. Her real ambition lies in fashion, and her designs eventually draw the notice of the Baroness von Hellman, a towering and exacting presence in the city's design world. Working in the Baroness's orbit opens doors, but it also sets off a chain of events and discoveries about Estella's own past. As those discoveries accumulate, she embraces a bolder, more theatrical and revenge-minded persona: Cruella.
About the cast
The ensemble is led by Emma Stone and Emma Thompson, with Mark Strong, Joel Fry and Paul Walter Hauser in major supporting parts. Emily Beecham, Kirby Howell-Baptiste and Tipper Seifert-Cleveland complete the principal cast. Craig Gillespie directs.
Context & significance
Cruella is a United States production with a running time of 134 minutes, catalogued under comedy and crime. The film works as an origin story: rather than presenting its central character fully formed, it sets out to show how she arrived at her flamboyant public identity. The setting ties that story to a specific cultural moment, the punk rock upheaval of 1970s London, and places fashion design at the centre of the plot. The narrative is organised around the relationship between two designers from very different positions, one a young outsider working her way up and the other an established authority in the industry, while the grifting skills Estella shares with her two companions give the story its crime-caper side. Viewers drawn to period settings, stories about the fashion world or comedies with a criminal streak will find those elements at the core of the picture.
Watching Cruella on Ktime
Cruella is available to stream on K-Time with a free account login, and both a Persian dub and Persian subtitles are offered. K-Time is built for Persian-speaking audiences, with a Farsi interface that makes browsing and switching between audio and subtitle options straightforward across devices.