The Ugly Stepsister: 'slyly funny' body-horror take on Cinderella
Emilie Blichfeldt's cutting Norwegian revision of the classic fairy tale leaves no character unscathed

"The Ugly Stepsister" is "an ingenious revisionist body-horror version of Cinderella" that unfolds from the perspective of the fairy-tale's antagonist, said Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian. In 18th century central Europe, "cynical widow" Rebekka (Ane Dahl Torp) remarries a man she thinks has a vast fortune – only for him to drop dead at their wedding breakfast. Left "financially embarrassed", she must now care for her sweet but "plain" daughter Elvira (Lea Myren) and a new stepdaughter, Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Naess), a "beautiful" young woman whom Rebekka relegates to the role of servant. News that the handsome Prince Julian (Isac Calmroth) is to host a ball where he will choose his bride seems to offer a way out, said Hannah Strong in Little White Lies.
To improve Elvira's chances, her mother subjects her to a series of "harrowing cosmetic procedures" – feeding her a tapeworm to lose weight, "breaking and resetting her nose" and "sewing false eyelashes into her eyelids". As she becomes beautiful, the initially pleasant young woman "grows vain and self-obsessed", and is so fixated on the prince she can't see that he isn't up to much himself. Indeed, almost none of the characters are sympathetic (even Agnes, the Cinderella figure, is conceited and unkind), and the women in particular are horrid.
All of this creates a "sour air", in a film that uses a lot of "creative gore" to disguise the flimsiness of its concept. It's certainly gruesome, said Jeannette Catsoulis in The New York Times. But it's also "slyly funny" and "visually captivating". Myren is brilliant as Elvira, and grounds what is ultimately a movie about "the physical agony of aesthetic conformity".
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
October 19 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday's editorial cartoons include Pete Hegseth and the press, an absence of government, and George Washington crossing the Delaware
-
A little-visited Indian Ocean archipelago
The Week Recommends The paradise of the Union of the Comoros features beautiful beaches, colourful coral reefs and lush forests
-
AI: is the bubble about to burst?
In the Spotlight Stock market ever-more reliant on tech stocks whose value relies on assumptions of continued growth and easy financing
-
A little-visited Indian Ocean archipelago
The Week Recommends The paradise of the Union of the Comoros features beautiful beaches, colourful coral reefs and lush forests
-
Diane Keaton: the Oscar-winning star of Annie Hall
In the Spotlight Something’s Gotta Give actor dies from pneumonia at the age of 79
-
Heirs and Graces: an ‘enthralling’ deep dive into the decline of nobility
The Week Recommends Eleanor Doughty explores the ‘bizarre fascination’ with the British aristocracy
-
6 sporty homes with tennis courts
Feature Featuring a clay tennis court in New York and a viewing deck in California
-
Critics’ choice: Seafood in the spotlight
Feature An experimental chef, a newspaper-worthy newcomer, and a dining titan’s fresh spin-off
-
Taylor Swift’s Showgirl: Much glitter, little gold
Feature Swift’s new album has broken records, but critics say she may have gotten herself creatively stuck
-
Theater review: Masquerade
218 W. 57th St., New York City 218 W. 57th St., New York City
-
Film reviews: Roofman and Kiss of the Spider Woman
Feature An escaped felon’s heart threatens to give him away and a prisoner escapes into daydreams of J.Lo.