Screenwriter: Emilie Blichfeldt

Producer: Maria Ekerhovd

Beauty is pain — gorgeous, grotesque, glorious pain. Inspired by the original Cinderella story by Charles Perrault and retaining the simmering, self-mutilating darkness of the Brothers Grimm version, Emilie Blichfeldt’s debut feature, The Ugly Stepsister is a perspective shift of one of the most well-known fairytales in history. By luring the audience into a false sense of familiarity with breathtaking period-appropriate gowns, large castles, and the dulcet tones of the Norwegian language, this twisted tale of Cinderella’s sister Elvira and her dedication to improving her physical appearance to try and compete against her traditionally beautiful stepsister descends into an exercise of body horror mayhem. What does plastic surgery look like in a time before plastic? Viewers beware, Blichfeldt pulls no punches in terms of depicting the brutal and barbaric treatments women used to seek out in their quest for beauty, but if you can stomach it, The Ugly Stepsister exposes the uncomfortable truth that there will always only be one Cinderella, and the rest of us have far more in common with her “ugly” stepsister.