The Ugly Stepsister Review

I probably don’t have to say this for a film that debuted at Sundance in January 2025 and distributed by the horror speciality subscription service Shudder but this film is very much not for children! It’s a Norwegian body horror.

A beautiful castle with a stunning backdrop of woodland, four noblewomen bedecked in fine dresses, and a handsome prince looking for a virginal bride. All the trademarks of a fairytale yet this tale is quite unlike any other!

Our protagonist, Elvira (Lea Myren), is the quintessential ‘ugly stepsister’. Though I must stress that ugly is rather an unfair description. Yes, Elvira may not possess the conventional ethereal beauty of Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Naess), her stepsister (the films Cinderella), but she is in no way ‘ugly’. If only Elvira could see this herself, or at the very least her own mother, Rebekka, could see it. Rebekka (Ane Dahl Torp) puts a new spin on the evil stepmother. Although she clearly wants what is best for her daughter (a rich husband), as well as for her family. After the untimely death of Rebekka’s new husband and Agnes’s father; Rebekka laments that no one wants a widow with “saggy tits and two hopeless daughters”. Elvira swears she will get married to provide for the family, but her mother tells her to “ look in the mirror, sweetheart”.

Elvira spends a lot of the movie woefully looking into the mirror. The teenager may not have access to a front-facing phone camera, but there is something oh-so-familiar about her despair. Elvira wears braces, and when those are pulled out to reveal her perfect teeth, it’s still not enough for her mother. After Rebekka chooses a more flattering shape from a brochure, Elvira is strapped down for a nose job as Dr Esthétique (Adam Lundgren) unceremoniously breaks her nose and attaches a (fittingly) medieval-looking device to her face in order to ‘shape’ the nose. Steampunk chic to be sure, but looks painful.

To the modern eye, Elvira’s methods to achieve ‘beauty’ may seem extreme; from swallowing a tapeworm egg to having eyelash extensions sewn (yes, sewn!) into her eyes. But this quest for perfection is disturbingly familiar. Is it any different from people injecting themselves with a neurotoxin or fillers into their faces?  And with Ozempic taking the world by storm, tapeworms don’t seem that bizarre. In our way, we are all trying to fit into the coveted ‘slipper’ that is the narrow view of femininity and beauty.

The film was written by Emilie Blichfeldt and stands as her directorial debut. The script reflects her own struggles with body confidence. We feel empathy towards Elvira whilst watching her stare at her naked body in disgust, envying Agnes’s effortless beauty, even when her beautiful stepsister is demoted to a house servant. Elvira is asked to move to the back of the dance class, being told her natural talent is wasted on someone as ugly as her, while Agnes is met only with smiles and attention.

The film is littered with both metaphorical and physical phalluses, reminding us how these unfortunate women are being, repeatedly, crushed living under the patriarchy. The penultimate scenes are a tour de force of body horror where Elvira’s desperation for beauty and acceptance is made visible in all its ugly glory. Not for the faint-hearted or the weak-stomached! 

Three stars.