The Ugly Stepsister has a lot of hype right now. It’s an interesting take on Cinderella told from the perspective of an “ugly” stepsister.   The elements of body and psychological horror are used to emphasize the themes of body image, societal standards, and fantasy vs realty.  But in the end, I was left feeling conflicted.  Make no mistake, The Ugly Stepsister is bold and filled with brilliant performances.  But as the story reached its inevitable conclusion and the credits rolled, I kept thinking about what message the filmmakers wanted to leave us with.

• Directed By: Emilie Blichfeldt
• Written By: Emilie Blichfeldt
• Starring: Lea Myren Ane Dahl Torp. Thea Sofie Loch Næss

Spoiler Warning: Sorry but its Necessary.

There will be spoilers ahead, none of them too terribly shocking. This is, after all, still Cinderella. And maybe that’s the biggest problem. In the end after, everything Elvira, the titular stepsister, goes through, the prince and Agnes (Cinderella) end up together. 

The reason that’s an issue is a bit more complicated. See, in this version, Agnes isn’t exactly a sweet, innocent girl. Along with her elderly father, they schemed for him to marry Elvira’s mother for money.  Only they have none. Once that’s discovered, Agnes sets her sights on the prince, knowing that Elvira is in love with him because of his poetry.  Agnes also claims to be in love with the stable hand. She only ends up in the “Cinderella” role because she gets caught hooking up with him in the stables.

Elvira isn’t mature enough or self-confident enough not to take advantage of that reversal of fortune. Especially since Agnes had never been particularly kind to her.  Elvira is a pathetic, sad figure. She’s fully aware that she is not pretty, but that she must be to succeed in society. She clings to childish fantasies about the prince, even when faced with the reality that he is in fact, a dick.  While she’s influenced by her mother, it’s just one of the factors that push her past the breaking point.

Imperfect Leads

What we end up with is two imperfect women fighting over a man not for who is he, which wouldn’t make him worth the effort, but for the security and safety he represents. Both Elvira and Agnes have sad lives and uncertain futures.  They are forced to compete instead of cooperating or collaborating.  And they do compete, with plenty of mean girl antics on both sides.

In the end Agnes wins, because Cinderella must? We get some old school Grimm Brothers references, and the stepsisters break free from their mother’s influence. But there’s no happy ending for Elvira here. In pursuit of the only security a woman in her time could achieve, she’s disfigured herself, in some ways permanently. Worse yet, the beautiful, awful Agnes is stuck with the prince. The only one who wins is the other stepsister, Alma;  the most interesting character in The Ugly Stepsister.

The Good One

Alma starts the movie being too young for her mother to shop around for husbands. She is specifically identified as not a woman.  Her hobbies and interests, what we see of them skew more masculine as well: she’s good with horses, wears pants, and seems more practical. When she gets her period halfway through the movie, she’s terrified. This is not a development she welcomes. Alma knows the only way to win the game is not to play.  This further complicates the overall messaging, since the best woman in the movie is the least female presenting.

Alma is the one who saves Elvira in the end. As the prince rides off with Agnes for what is probably a long slog of a marriage, Alma puts Elvira on horseback, and they too head off for an uncertain future.

What Didn’t Sit Right With Me

I had high expectations for such widely praised and critically acclaimed movie. There is a lot to enjoy; the performances are excellent, and it looks great. Elvira and Alma are nuanced heartbreaking characters. My issue is, like it so often is, with the theme and messaging.  Looking at the characters and their fates, it’s hard to tell what I’m supposed to take way from The Ugly Stepsister other than societal standards of beauty are damaging. This is true, but hardly revolutionary.  The fact that women will go to great lengths to harm themselves, and each other, for a mediocre man is also, while not flattering, not exactly a fresh take.  Death Becomes Her is still a great movie.

The movie takes turns being sympathetic to Elvira and Agnes, while acknowledging they have a measure of accountability here. What I don’t quite grasp is why Agnes gets off so easy for playing into the standards? Elvira is punished for it.  If they are both victims of an unjust system, and both made bad choices within the system (no one made you sleep with a stable boy in an easily discoverable location), why this ending?  It makes The Ugly Stepsister less of a subversive take on Cinderella and more just a gory one.  After all, they end with the same message, the “pretty” sister gets the prince. Unless you’re lucky and born “beautiful”, you cannot win.

Final Thoughts

What is making The Ugly Stepsister so popular right now? It’s certainly a well-made movie, released right after The Substance, a movie with similar themes applied very differently. There is something concerning about the rush of hype for Stepsister, given how the story treats its main character.  Are there that many people eager for body horror adaptations of classic fairy tales? I wish that were the case; true body horror Pinocchio would be a blast. A more troubling question seems more likely: why do we as viewers enjoy seeing women punished for pursuing societal standards of beauty?

The Ugly Stepsister is available on Shudder

Read other streaming reviews here:

• They Call Her Death: I Love This Movie
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