Movie Review: THE UGLY STEPSISTER (DEN STYGGE STESOSTEREN)

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: April 18th, 2025 / 04:13 PM

THE UGLY STEPSISTER (DEN STYGGE STESOSTEREN) | ©2025 IFC Films/Shudder

Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Lea Myren, Ane Dahl Torp, Thea Sofie Loch Næss, Flo Fagerli, Isac Calmroth, Malte Gårdener, Ralph Carlsson, Cecilia Forss, Katarzyna Hermann, Adam Lundgren
Writer: Emilie Blichfeldt
Director: Emilie Blichfeldt
Distributor: IFC Films/Shudder
Release Date: April 18, 2025

THE UGLY STEPSISTER (DEN STYGGE STESØSTEREN) is an intriguing dark fairytale, seen from the point of view of one of Cinderella’s famed relatives-by-marriage. While there is plenty of body horror, and Shudder is listed as a co-distributor, the movie is not conventionally scary.

Directed and written by Emilie Blichfeldt, THE UGLY STEPSISTER is mostly simply dark period comedy/social commentary, with bits of fantasy paving over the parts of the story that need it.

We are in the kingdom of Swedlandia, circa what looks like the eighteenth century. Widower Otto (Ralph Carlsson) and his beautiful teenage daughter Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Næss) welcome Otto’s fiancée, wealthy widow Rebekka (Ane Dahl Trop) and her daughters to their castle.

Rebekka’s older teen Elvira (Lea Myren) is a romantic daydreamer, in love from afar with the kingdom’s Prince Julian (Isac Calmroth), reading a book of poetry that he’s written over and over. The younger Alma (Flo Fagerli) is a pragmatist, trying to cope with whatever strange change occurs next.

At first, Elvira and Agnes make tentative gestures of friendship to one another. Then, alas, Otto dies suddenly. When Elvira tries to comfort Agnes – after all, Elvira lost her own father – Agnes snaps that the comparison between their two griefs is indecent.

A royal proclamation is made that a ball will be held. All noble-blooded virgins in the kingdom are invited, and Prince Julian will select his bride from among them.

To be clear, Elvira in her original form is what most people would consider to be a pretty young woman, with large eyes and a voluptuous physique. However, by the standards of Rebekka, Elvira’s teachers (Cecilia Forss and Katarzyna Hermann) and the country’s equivalent of a plastic surgeon (Adam Lundgren), she is “hopeless.”

Elvira is determined to go to the ball. Rebekka supports her daughter’s ambition. So, Elvira endures an agonizing regime of facial and physical alterations to become “beautiful.”

Meanwhile, Agnes winds up banished to the scullery, but her late mother is watching over her …

Director/writer Blichfeldt bathes her imagery in chiaroscuro lighting within, and children’s book illustration colors without, giving THE UGLY STEPSISTER a painterly look even at its most grotesque.

We get a hint of the supernatural with Agnes/Cinderella. We never see the pumpkin turn into the coach and back again, and maybe the visitation from her mother is all in Agnes’s head, but some magical silkworms are definitely involved in the action.

The narrative is full of intriguing nuances and contradictions. Agnes does not have an empathetic soul, but some of her grievances are righteous. Likewise, when Agnes does something that appalls and infuriates Rebekka, on the one hand, we agree with Agnes’s autonomy, but on the other hand, we’re aware that a lot of people in Rebekka’s position, even now, would be aghast.

The film makes it clear that Prince Julian, though handsome, is hardly a catch. Elvira is willfully blind to this. Then again, she is so subject to humiliation and manipulation that her daydreams are almost all she has – there’s no one there to tell her that she’s good just as she is.

The exception to this is Alma, the most level-headed person on view, but since she’s a youngster, no one listens to her.

Myren plays Elvira with an affecting openness and innocence. She conveys uncynical longing to great effect, so that we never view her as a villain, even when she is in a state of near-madness. Myren also performs admirably when dealing with Elvira’s many physical challenges.

Loch Næss looks the heroine part as Agnes and has a certainty about her that commands respect.

Torp is a purring force to be reckoned with as Rebekka, and Fagerli is appealingly straightforward as Alma. Calmroth deftly shuffles the callow, crass and attractive aspects of Julian as needed.

One big question that we might not ask if the film didn’t open the door so wide is why Agnes/Cinderella is so determined to marry the Prince. It’s clearly not for love, and a post-credits sequence makes it evident that we can rule out another motive as well. While it’s not the point here, it is baffling.

Although they are very different in tone, style, and plotting, aspects of THE UGLY STEPSISTER may remind audiences of THE SUBSTANCE, another tale of the excruciating lengths individuals, especially women, are encouraged to go to in order to receive approval from others. Both movies take the metaphor to extremes, but most viewers will be able to relate.

In Norwegian, with English subtitles.

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