The Ugly Stepsister

How many times can they tell the same story? That question may cross your mind as you rewatch yet another version of Romeo and Juliet. The story is always the same, but they cast some hot, up-and-coming young actors and tell it the same way again. Once in a while, though, you get something fresh—like what Baz Luhrmann did with Romeo + Juliet—that breathes new life into an old tale. Cinderella is another one of those stories that has been told countless times, but now, Emilie Blichfeldt is here to inject new energy into it, and she has made it one bloody good time.

In a distant place, long ago, a man lives with his two daughters—Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Naess) and Elvira (Lea Myren)—enjoying a good life. Agnes’s father has married Elvira’s mother, and things seem to be going well until Agnes’s father suddenly dies. With his death, the household hierarchy shifts, and when Prince Julian (Isac Calmroth) announces he is seeking a bride, both girls receive invitations to the ball. At first, it seems Agnes has the upper hand, but never underestimate a mother and daughter willing to do whatever it takes to get noticed by the prince. That whatever it takes includes all kinds of painful beauty procedures—even eating a tapeworm egg to stay thin. Everything seems to be working against Agnes, but there is magic in the forest, and by the time the ball arrives, things—especially for Elvira—seem to be falling apart. And of course, we all know who will ultimately win the prince’s hand.

With her feature film debut, Emilie Blichfeldt gives the fairy tale a contemporary twist while also embracing the brutality of the original, even veering into moments of grotesque horror. The Ugly Stepsister is not the first horror film to satirize beauty standards, nor will it be the last. You might expect the title’s stepsister to be an evil woman willing to do anything to get her way, but that’s not the case here. What makes The Ugly Stepsister work is how easy it is to identify with Elvira as someone who simply wants to connect with someone and find her own happily ever after.

The Ugly Stepsister is a wickedly clever spin on Cinderella that doesn’t hold back in showing the extreme lengths people will go to for beauty and acceptance. Blichfeldt has taken something incredibly familiar and breathed new life into it—creating a film that is both traumatizing and horrifying. Her vision truly comes to life thanks to Loch Naess and Myren, who together serve as the film’s heart. With the rest of the talented cast, they craft a visually striking and unsettling world where fairy-tale tropes collide with brutal physical metaphors.

We’ve all heard this story before, and most of us dream of being the prince or Cinderella. But Blichfeldt asks a different question: What’s wrong with being the stepsister? After all, isn’t that what most of us are anyway? The Ugly Stepsister isn’t for everyone—watching Elvira push herself to the brink is soul-crushing at times—but the journey is worth taking. Myren’s performance, combined with the film’s hauntingly immersive world, makes this an unforgettable experience. Because, in the end, life is rarely the fairy tale we were promised.