Grimms’ Fairy Tales told decidedly more disturbing versions of stories than their Disney-fied counterparts. Writer/director Emilie Kristine Blichfeldt takes a page out of the Grimm book when it comes to her take on a classic. Blichfeldt finds an organic way to approach the cost of beauty by diving deep into the nightmarish world of gory body modification. Less interested in depicting the villainess wicked stepmother or cutesy soot-covered heroine of yesteryear, the focus shifts to one of the stepsisters. This fresh perspective adds intriguing layers of commentary not present in the original text. A sadistic body horror twist on Cinderella, The Ugly Stepsister breaks the mold for what we expect from genre iterations of timeless fairy tales.
Rebekka (Ane Dahl Torp) and her two daughters, Elvira (Lea Mathilde Skar-Myren) and Alma (Flo Fagerli), arrive at the sprawling estate of Swedlandia to join their new family. Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Næss) happily greets the sisters, giving Elvira a tour of her new home. While Elvira daydreams about a happily ever after with Prince Julian (Isac Calmroth), the unthinkable occurs. The patriarch drops dead at the dinner table, making Rebekka a widow and leaving Agnes behind to an incredibly difficult situation. This aspect of the story will probably sound overly familiar—see: Cinderella.
Tangentially, the mainline Cinderella of it all does indeed play out. However, Elvira is our lead within the walls of her new home. With the father figure out of the picture, it would appear both sides of the family are destined for destitution. The only solution is for Rebekka to ensure one of her daughters will marry into money. Both Agnes and Elvira receive a special invitation to attend the Prince’s ball. Tensions run high between the two—while Rebekka focuses on channeling whatever remaining funds they possess to beautify Elvira, Agnes’s father rots away as they fail to grant him a proper funeral.
Elvira’s character honestly appears more relatable than Agnes, which obviously was the point. Elvira’s downward spiral makes her a tragic protagonist that nonetheless seems more worthy of pairing with the prince than Agnes. Even she has been painted in shades of gray, appearing just as privileged, selfish, and manipulative as those around her. As a so-called “ugly stepsister,” Elvira will go to drastic means to change her appearance. To start with, the filmmakers try to make Elvira look as hideous as possible, with braces and thick curls and an utter lack of style. Still, disguising Lea Mathilde Skar-Myren as an ugly duckling takes a bit of movie magic. Elvira’s desperation to become more desirable than Agnes is only exacerbated when they both compete for starring roles at a finishing school performance for the ball in front of Prince Julien. Faced with unrealistic standards about how she should look for suitors, each painfully graphic surgery drives Elvira closer to the surface-level best version of herself.
In a different flavor to last year’s The Substance, Elvira endures plenty of nastiness in the name of beauty. The messages aren’t subtle, either—a poster at the clinic Elvira frequents quite literally states that “beauty is pain.” Elvira even decides to swallow a worm egg so that she can lose the weight to become that much sexier to the prince. This aspect adds a dose of dark comedy, with the sounds of Elvira’s tummy grumbles heard far and wide. Whatever flavor of bodily harm gets under the viewer’s skin, it could surely be found within the walls of The Ugly Stepsister. For me, the stitching of thick eyelashes got under my skin in a unexpected way. A specific bit of imagery that harkens back to Grimms’ Fairy Tales was a bit of icing on the cake.
Visually and emotionally haunting, the technical aspects are just as worthy of praise as the tight script. Eerie lighting and an industrial-type score add to the unrelenting atmosphere—we are always at the mercy of director Emilie Kristine Blichfeldt’s sharp vision. The twisting of fairy tales in the horror realm have led to some potent genre moments, from Snow White: A Tale of Terror to Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, and underrated 90s gem Rumpelstiltskin. The Ugly Stepsister may be one of our best yet.
The Ugly Stepsister screened at 2025’s Overlook Film Festival. Try its glass slipper of oddities on for size when it comes to theaters on Friday, April 18th. Don’t miss it in UK cinemas on April 25th.
