Aaron Ploof
The Little Mermaid dissolving into sea foam, the Evil Queen dancing in a pair of red-hot shoes, and Sleeping Beauty being sexually assaulted and giving birth to twins—these original versions of our modern fairy tales were far from cheerful. In The Ugly Stepsister, Norwegian director Emilie Blichfeldt adds her dark twist to the story of Cinderella. She incorporates some of the more gruesome aspects of the tale while adding even more disturbing elements. The film explores the pressure women face to attain beauty, particularly when it is their main means of advancing in a world dominated by unscrupulous men. Blichfeldt delivers a gripping, unsettling, yet frequently funny body horror film.
Cinderella with a Twist
The main twist of The Ugly Stepsister is that the lead point-of-view character is not Cinderella, but Elvira (Lea Myren), one of the stepsisters who torments her in the original tale. By shifting perspectives from the beginning, the film immediately garners our sympathy for the stepsister. Furthermore, Elvira is an average-looking, innocent girl. Her mother marries a man she is deceived into believing will lift them out of poverty. When he unexpectedly passes, Elvira’s family’s one chance at surviving is to ensure that Prince Julian (Isac Calmroth) marries Elvira. But with Elvira’s beautiful stepsister Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Næss) also vying for Julian’s attention, that task seems impossible. To make Elvira more attractive, her mother resorts to some rather intense methods.
Embrace Pain
Elivra’s naivety and fantasy-filled daydreams endear her to viewers as she undergoes these tortures. Several times throughout the movie, as she reads the Prince’s poetry, we enter Elvira’s headspace, and the film saturates with a heavy hue of pink. This reflects Elvira’s intense yearnings for romance, especially with her Prince. These scenes are indeed very often funny and overly expressive. Myren sells her character’s intense longing with a smile that is comical to look at. That is, especially before she has her braces yanked out by a gigantic pair of pliers.
The pain Elvira endures to attain something resembling Agnes’ natural beauty is painstakingly and comically graphic. Whether it’s the aforementioned braces scene, a sequence in which eyelashes are sewn into her lids, or a chisel to the nose, these moments will test the limits of your stomach. Expect to grimace, wince, and recoil from the screen during these scenes. I consistently felt on edge, wondering what Elvira was going to put herself through next. But nothing compares to the tapeworm.
About halfway through the film, Elvira shows her younger sister, Alma (Flo Fagerli), an egg with a tapeworm inside. She boasts that she will swallow it, allowing her to eat without gaining weight. She follows through with the act, and the tapeworm lodges itself within her organs. It consistently feeds on the food that Elvira ingests. She does indeed lose weight, but her health rapidly deteriorates. A sing-song gurgling of her stomach warns of the worm’s presence and impending danger. What Elvira’s choice leads to, I will not reveal, but it serves as a gross-out climax that outdoes all that comes before.
Vying For Attention
Elvira’s desperation to win the prince’s heart rings true, considering that beauty and sex were a woman’s main means of advancing in society back in the days of the fairy tale. And her mother, Rebekka, doesn’t do much for her daughter’s sanity, pushing her to lengths just to win the prince’s love. Agnes, the Cinderella character, contrasts with Elvira. She need not work as hard to win men’s favors, but she does have to give up true love to secure her future. Agnes is more sexually knowledgeable in this version, much more so than Elvira, but her inherent goodness remains intact. Næss plays that characteristic well, whether she is talking to mice, giving her stepsister something to eat, or crying on her father’s maggot-eaten corpse.
Seeing Agnes’ journey from afar, while also being familiar with Cinderella’s story, has a certain effect. I found my sympathies split between the two women, desiring for both to achieve their goals. When Elvira tears Agnes’ dress, preventing her from going to the ball, I felt for her. When Elvira endures even more pain to ensure she’ll be found by the prince (If you’re familiar with the Grimm fairy tale and have seen the movie’s poster, you know where this is going), I understood her desperation.
Elvira and Agnes, sadly, are fighting for the attention of a man who will never truly value them. The prince, along with his friends, are base natured pigs, objectifying, taunting, and ridiculing Elvira when they see her. Both before and after her transformation. Blichfeldt’s ruthless commentary on male chauvinism is sadly on point for many men today. Maybe much hasn’t changed since the old times, after all.
The costumes are all high quality, both for the men and women. The sets are gorgeous; I wouldn’t be surprised if these were real castles and ballrooms. The soundtrack is old-timey when it needs to be, but also brings up some modern classics and very recognizable tunes.
It’s difficult to pinpoint an aspect of this film that I didn’t like, but that’s not to say it’s perfect. It doesn’t have much to say beyond its frustration at gender relations. And by its very nature, it assuredly won’t be for everyone. This is some hardcore material, both in the violence and sexual department, so much so that I left the theatre with a nagging stomachache. I recommend not eating popcorn or candy while watching the film. But for those audience members who appreciate fairy tales and want to be shocked, The Ugly Stepsister is an excellent movie.
Ugly Beauty
The Ugly Stepsister takes on a kind of ugly beauty in its own right. By twisting a familiar fairy tale and allowing us to see the story through a new set of eyes, the film makes something new that was once old. This is a must-see for anyone who is a gorehound, and I encourage curious fairy-tale nerds like me to give it a chance. The Ugly Stepsister earns a high recommendation and a score of
Score: 9/10
The Ugly Stepsister | Official Trailer | In Cinemas 25th April
A sinister twist on the classic Cinderella story, THE UGLY STEPSISTER follows Elvira as she prepares to earn the prince’s affection at any cost. In a kingdom where beauty is a brutal business, Elvira will compete with the beautiful and enchanting Agnes to become the belle of the ball.
