The Ugly Stepsister

A twisted fairy tale where wanting to be beautiful causes the lead protagonist all types of pain. Elvira has lost all her marbles as she competes with her beautiful stepsister Agnes, and she will go to any length to catch the prince's eye. Good acting, and the movie kept me intrigued. The Director Emilie Blichfeldt kept the moving going, and the lead actress who played Elvira Lea Myren did an outstanding job. A Norweigan film, that I would definitely watch again. I felt Elviras pain, but greed, insecurity, and a mother's love got in the way. The comedy aspect had me laughing as well, I'll give it a 7 out of a 10.

While stories of this nature often carry a myriad of meanings and impacts dictated by audience interpretations, I like to perceive it primarily as a critique of the beauty and fashion industry.

That very industry driven by self-interest, promotes unrealistic beauty standards among impressionable young women, particularly teenagers, and encourages gullible women to purchase costly products to be "attractive" so to speak or, more alarmingly, drive them to resort to unhealthy and dangerous methods for altering their faces and bodily structure.

The narrative also serves as a commentary on those parents who exploit their children's fame and financial success, steering them toward a path of self-destruction in pursuit of their own unattained and selfish interests.

A twisted take on Cinderella, The Ugly Stepsister is a Norwegian body horror flick that will creep you out through it's take on beauty standards and the level of extremity one can go to fit well.

The director, Emilie Blichfeldt did the same with 'The Ugly Stepsister' this year, with what was done in 2024 by Coralie Fargeat with 'The Substance', by showcasing the lengths one go to stay relevant. While it is far from perfect and the characters don't stand out much, apart from the lead; The Ugly Stepsister has abundant gore, amazing BGM and splendid performance by Lea Myren as Elvira that elevates the movie.

The director doesn't even hold back on frontal nudity of the characters in couple of scenes, and the third act of this body horror is equally disgusting to watch as well as emotionally draining; but for the advanced horror fans, this might be a treat.

My Rating : 3.5/5.

The movie looks beautiful! Actresses are all amazing, especially both sisters and step-mother. I think Agnes (Cinderella) was presented as a bit bland on purpose, because the whole movie was from the perspective of one of the "ugly" sisters. The movie is very close to dark comedy, with body horror elements and twist on an original, also dark, Cinderella story.

I love that nothing is presented as we would expect. "Ugly" sisters are not ugly or evil, especially younger sister who is very sweet and actually quite beautiful but presented as really too young for the Prince.

Prince is also not presented as nice royal and good-mannered person like in story, as you can see in the movie, it's a rather surprising and possibly more realistic view on young, very rich and very spoiled king's son.

Cinderella is barely on screen. Viewers still root for her because she did nothing wrong, but I love the additional little twist on her character too. Those who saw the movie will know. She is not naive little girl either.

Stepmom is not inherently evil, as presented in cartoon, she is just not-so-smart, greedy woman, who likes money and who saw her chance to get it in her older daughter. Another rather realistic presentation instead of "pure evil stepmother" stereotype in fairytales.

Now, actress who plays Elvira is amazing! She is joy to watch, she absolutely the center of the movie and we see pretty much everything from her perspective.

Alma, younger sister, is presented as sweet and smart child with a lot of compassion and love for Elvira which I love!

On the darker side, there is a lot of gore in getting Elvira to the beauty standard she craved so much. I admit a lot of scenes I had difficulties to watch. So, be prepared for Cinderella, body horror + dark comedy, from perspective of one of the "ugly" (none of them are ugly, hence quotes) sisters.

I have deep respect for ideas and concepts like the ones featuring in "The Ugly Stepsister". The totally bonkers reimagining of a classic fairytale like "Cinderella", told mainly from the perspective of the hateful stepsister, is pure genius and utmost creative. In fact, I'm even slightly frustrated that I can never come up with simple but brilliant ideas like that! Who thought it up, then? Well, the Norwegian writer/director Emilie Blichfeldt did, and she created a lot more than just an entertaining slice of trash cinema... Blichfeldt made a harsh but socially relevant statement, a brutal upgrade of body-horror, and a hilarious black comedy. All in one.

It may not seem obvious, but "The Ugly Stepsister" has quite a lot in common with Coralie Fargeat's "The Substance"; which is hands down THE best horror movie of the 2020s. Both films were made by strong and professional women, and they both star anti-heroines doing everything - literally everything - to answer to the highest possible beauty standards. Both of the heroines also desire to look young/beautiful not for themselves, but to still matter in the society they are part of. And, of course, their desperate obsession with beauty has terrible consequences for both of them.

Let's not over-analyze, though, as "the Ugly Stepsister" is first and foremost a tremendously entertaining combo of genres. Blichfeld fluently blends period costume piece, comedy, horror, and even a little bit of drama. The carefree life of Rebekka and her daughters Elvira and Alma rudely comes to an end when her rich second husband literally drops dead on the diner table. Their only hope for wealth and luxury would be that Prince Charming chooses the oldest daughter Elvira as his bride, but there's one little problem. With her giant braces, crooked nose, excessively natural curves, and ring-curling hair, Elvira does not immediately meet the beauty standards. Will Rebekka succeed to make her own daughter prettier in time for the Royal Ball, AND to keep the amazingly beautiful daughter Agnes - a.k.a. Cinderella - locked away in the stables?

I truly loved how old-fashioned narratives and outdated clichés from the old Disney story have faded, and even disappeared. The stepsister is no longer an arrogant and evil wench but a very insecure and introverted girl. Cinderella, on the other hand, is not such an innocent angel anymore. She is quite rude to Elvira, and she likes premarital sex with the stable boy while she introduces herself as a virgin to the Prince a little while later. Fortunately, some fixed values from the (original) story are also retained. You won't see it in the Disney version, but here as well the stepdaughter cuts off her toes to fit the shoe. The film is of course far from perfect. Many parts of the script seem underdeveloped, which creates loose ends as well as a very large number of illogical situations and inexplicable plot twists. However, these are only details, because Blichfeldt has created a refreshing and solid long-feature debut film, and I hope to see more of her soon.