In most iterations of Cinderella, the stepsister and stepmother are two dimensional characters, simple plot devices to create a conflict for Cinderella to overcome. But in The Ugly Stepsister, we are asked to consider what it might feel like to be one of the stepsisters, and if her hopes and dreams are as valid as our princess-to-be. The film wants us to re-examine the characters we sympathize with and those we villainize, as life’s conflicts can be a lot more complicated than they seem at first glance.
The titular ugly stepsister is Elvira (Lea Myren), a girl who longs to marry the prince. Her mother Rebekka’s (Ane Dahl Torp) new husband dies on the day they are wed, which leaves the family penniless. Rebekka resolves to find a wealthy husband for Elvira, which is complicated by her perceived ugliness and the comparative beauty of her stepsister Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Næss), who also has her eyes set on the prince.
The Ugly Stepsister restores some of the gorier aspects of the Cinderella tale that Disney’s feature conveniently omitted. The Brothers Grimm’s iteration of Cinderella has the stepsisters cutting off parts of their feet to fit the glass slipper at the end of the tale. The Ugly Stepsister takes this as inspiration to make the story more visceral, introducing a tapeworm, broken noses, maggots, and more.
These additions are welcome, but they don’t consistently hit the stomach-churning heights of last year’s The Substance or David Cronenberg’s body horror that writer-director Emilie Blichfeldt draws inspiration from. On the more effective side are a couple of visits Elvira makes to Dr. Esthétique, a primitive plastic surgeon with a little too much glee in the pain he is causing. But the other big moments of gore don’t work as well, partially because the effects work isn’t very good.
The film has some pretty good ideas about how to convey its messages about beauty standards. Midway through the film, Elvira calls herself fat and ugly, but she doesn’t start the film hating her body. She is taking cues from how others in the movie treat her – there’s a particularly harsh etiquette teacher who makes no effort to hide her contempt, and an embarrassing run-in with the prince early in the film. But most hurtful of all, Elvira gets the sense that her own mother doesn’t see her as beautiful, which is deeply damaging to her.
I’m a sucker for this particular kind of revisionist movie, that explores the perspectives of characters that are not given interiority in the original material. And The Ugly Stepsister succeeds in that regard – the moments here where you see Elvira being ugly towards Agnes aren’t defensible, but they are understandable given her character’s arc and desires.
The Ugly Stepsister delivers on its premise about beauty standards and social pressure; however, it doesn’t introduce a lot of nuance beyond the basics. This gives it a fable-like quality, which suits the source material and fairytale setting, but not the runtime required for a feature film. There’s a lot of unexplored room in the movie to bring in some complexity or additional ideas about its themes, but it’s fairly content just to stick with the message it’s already gotten across.
