“What if Wicked and The Substance had a grubby baby?” This was the headline for my evaluate of The Ugly Stepsister out of Sundance 2025, as I cheered this twisted fairytale stuffed with violent magnificence therapies and physique horror.
Directed by Emilie Blichfeldt, The Ugly Stepsister re-imagines the story of Cinderella from the attitude of one among her maligned siblings. Elvira (Lea Myren) needs solely to be associates along with her fairly and correct new stepsister Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Næss). Nicely, that and he or she pines endlessly for the love of the prince, who publishes poetry that has her swooning into romantic fantasies. So when Elvira’s mom guarantees her a path to wowing royalty on the upcoming ball, she’ll do no matter it takes — even when meaning a medieval nostril job with out anesthesia. And issues solely get extra grotesque from there.
As promised in my evaluate — which is pull-quoted within the above trailer — “The Ugly Stepsister is a deranged and dizzying achievement, folding in a classic story with a bitingly modern satire and bold body horror…Simply put, The Ugly Stepsister is savagely brutal and yet strangely beautiful.”
