Critics reviews

Emilie Blichfeldt’s dark, funny, provocative film could easily lose a few of these [squeamish] moments to find a (slightly) more mainstream audience than it will end up attracting. But to her credit, she goes all in, and her audaciously militant vision suggests a director whose name is soon to be catnip for actors who like to pester their agents for challenging new projects.

The film’s creative gore alone cannot paper over the ultimate flimsiness of Blichfeldt’s concept, which amounts to an adolescent scrawl of fairytale satire, somehow less interesting and transgressive than Angela Carter’s ‘The Bloody Chamber’ which predates it by 46 years.

Norwegian director Emilie Blichfeldt makes her feature debut with an ingenious revisionist body-horror version of Cinderella, lavishly costumed and designed. There are twists in the style of David Cronenberg and Walerian Borowczyk, with (maybe inevitably) echoes of Carrie and Alien... Blichfeldt has made an elegant debut.

The Ugly Stepsister retells a classic fairy tale from the point of view of the villain, combining a lavishly detailed period setting with explicit, unblinking scenes of historically accurate torture. Its point of view is specific to its teenage protagonist, which limits its emotional range. But it’s effective as a grotesque spectacle.

“The Substance” is an obvious comparison, but “The Ugly Stepsister” is nastier, angrier, and grosser, if you can believe it. Blichfieldt’s “burn it all down” approach creates turbulence and upset while walking over very well-trod ground.

The Ugly Stepsister is a deranged and dizzying achievement, folding in a classic story with a bitingly modern satire and bold body horror. Blichfeldt weaves these elements together to make a film that feels both of this moment but aesthetically nostalgic... The Ugly Stepsister is savagely brutal and yet strangely beautiful.

Contrasting the freshness of youth with the decay of a world where beauty is the only currency and romance an illusion, “The Ugly Stepsister” strikes gold in Myren’s extraordinary performance.

The Ugly Stepsister eschews a certain staidness that can afflict period dramas. While Blichfeldt might revel in the gruesomeness to a touch too much, this is a well-crafted debut––commendable in the unexpected, gnarled ways it finds sympathy with the downcast and dismissed.

Blichfeldt credits body horror godfather David Cronenberg as an influence — how could she not? — though “The Ugly Stepsister” is more body horror in its formalism than spiritually in terms of the genre. The film lacks Cronenberg’s pathos and brooding philosophical inquiry, more interested in the surface of things without too deeply piercing them or leaving behind too gaping a wound.

Lead actress Lea Mathilde Skar-Myren delivers a formidable performance, transforming the overlooked character in a way that upends audiences’ perception of this age-old tale. Gruesome, gag-inducing and ecstatically thrilling, The Ugly Stepsister joins the ranks of recent female-driven genre cinema as a worthy addition.

Blichtfeldt never comes at beauty standards from a didactic angle (like say 2024’s The Substance), leaving room for the audience to question complicity more broadly.

Blichfedlt’s aesthetic ambition — hyper-pop prevails here — and a committed performance from Les Myren as the titular stepsister help enliven a film that, at times, is weighed down by its more farcical antics... But when Blichfedlt experiments with the details... the film finds new ways to make an old tale relevant.