The Ugly Stepsister

This girl was not so hopeless. She just needed confidence!

Movie: The Ugly Stepsister

Running Time: 1:45 (Nice!)

Nominated for: Make Up & Hairstyling

How I watched: Hulu

When it had me: Right Away

When it lost me: Body horror made me look away but didn't lose me

What systems does it challenge: Beauty standards

The Ugly Stepsister is a retelling of Cinderella that centers Elvira, one of the stepsisters. Elvira is awkward with a childish hairstyle and braces (which I didn't know were invented in the early 1800s!) and naively dreams of the Prince whose poetry she obsesses over.

I love this clear-eyed look at the bones of the Cinderella story. The marriage of the stepmother is a desperate attempt to gain a financial means to care for herself and her two daughters. Women can't have jobs or property; their only hope is to marry rich and the only way to do that is to be attractive, pleasant and obedient. Once her new husband dies the clock is ticking again and this time they set their hopes on the seemingly hopeless Elvira to go from ugly duckling to swan and save the family.

Elvira is likable from the start and the horror escalates as we watch her use increasingly gruesome and torturous tactics to improve her marketability. She becomes harsh and mean, yes, but she is in constant agony thanks to everything from breaking and resetting bones to a dietary tapeworm. Through it all she imagines a beautiful outcome of love between her and the Prince and I think we stick with her because of this stubborn optimism (even though it is revealed that the Prince is a douchebag.)

Cinderella has her own love interest and is also mean to Elvira and there is also the younger sister (who has big nonbinary vibes) who wisely hides when she gets her period so she can stay out of the fray and just hang out with the horses. The stepmother is all in, essentially prostituting herself for whatever favors and scraps she can negotiate.

All of these women are shrinking, altering and hiding themselves in order to survive through the only means offered to them; dependency on men. The men are hardly even present in the film until we get to the ball and they circle like horny sharks looking for prey. The women are like exotic animals that have been brought out for show. It's exaggerated but also completely realistic and that's the real horror.

We know how the story ends. This is a first time director from Norway, Emilie Blichfeldt, and she does some really subtle and wonderful storytelling especially at the end. As Elvira (now almost monstrous from her backfired attempts at "improvement") and her young sister escape, Elvira is giggling from the absurdity of the moment and it might be the first genuine joy we see her experience in the whole film. In the midst of her tragedy it feels reassuring. Her sister then tells her that have to get to the border by nightfall. We have no idea where they are going but it seems they have a plan and we are left with hope that they have freed themselves from the shallow world of competing beauty.

I enjoyed this far more than The Substance as a commentary on beauty expectations for women.