Elvira (Lea Myren, extraordinary in her first feature film) dreams of a fairytale life, seduced by the poems of Prince Julian (Isac Calmroth). In reality her existence is anything but dreamlike. Elvira and her younger sister Alma (Flo Fagerli) are unceremoniously whisked off to a new life when their mother Rebekka (Ane Dahl Torp) marries the supposedly wealthy Otto (Ralph Carlsson). But when Otto keels over and dies on their wedding night, it's discovered that he was actually penniless, and relying on the meagre wealth of Rebekka to settle his accounts.
Elvira's mother refuses to pay for the costs of Otto's funeral and so, to the deep chagrin of his mourning daughter Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Næss), his body lies rotting in a back room awaiting the undertaker.
But salvation may be at hand; an invitation, extended to all the eligible virgins in the vicinity, arrives from the Prince; he's holding a ball and both Alma and Elvira have secured invitations (pre pubescent Alma, perhaps the real Cinderella of the piece, must remain at home). While Alma has a natural beauty (compromised by the fact that she isn't a virgin any more) Elvira, with braces on her teeth and a predilection for pastries, is a less inspiring prospect. But Rebekka sees the marriage of her daughter to the wealthy Prince as the solution to her financial woes so invests in a programme of improvements for Elvira. First to go are the girl's braces, then her nose is reshaped and false eyelashes sewed in place (all without the benefit of anaesthetic). More cruelly to resolve her weight issues, Rebekka prescribes a tapeworm egg which, when ingested, will allow her daughter to eat freely while losing the pounds. As the ball approaches, Elvira's hidden beauty emerges, but of course none of this is without cost.
Blichfeldt plays switcheroo with the identity of the 'ugly sister' (in this case the duckling into swan Elvira) and fleshes out the original 'Cinderella' story, adding in the grand guignol touches that were possibly in the writers' minds when composing it. The body horror elements maybe au courant (thanks to The Substance and a lot of other similar but largely unacknowledged films), but the director takes the story extension further, disclosing the Prince's casual misogyny and the cost to Elvira of her enforced beautification. The ending may have fairytale elements, but The Ugly Stepsister is a dark, satirical revisit of the Cinderella story with touches of Borowczyk and the erotic and gruesome elements of classic European horror movies.
The Ugly Sister plays in UK Cinemas from 25th April.
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