The story of Cinderella is one of opportunity, luck, and fantasy, at least for the eponymous princess. Everything works out for her good, from the glass slipper that fits only her foot to the woodland animals who guide her path. But woe befalls anyone who dares to stand between Cinderella and her destiny, like her ugly stepsisters. In the Brothers Grimm’s original version of the tale, they cut off their own toes to fit her slipper and woo the charming prince, only to get their eyes plucked out for their presumption. And they fare even worse in Emilie Blichfeldt’s genre-bending take on the fairy tale, though The Ugly Stepsister goes to great lengths to show us that these women are all victims of the patriarchy. “I have myself lived under the burden of feeling ugly under the tyranny of beauty,” Blichfeldt tells Inverse. The more she “tried and failed to fit in,” the more she found herself relating to the desperation driving Cinderella’s stepsisters. Blickfeldt poured that feeling into her unconventional, tragic heroine, Elvira (Lea Myren), who goes to bonkers lengths to win the prince’s affections. The Ugly Stepsister channels Cronenbergian body horror and Scandinavian provocateurs like Lars Von Trier in depicting Elvira’s descent. Its seamless mix of heady fantasy and black humor naturally entranced audiences when The Ugly Stepsister debuted at Sundance earlier this year. As it makes its way to Shudder, Blichfeldt sits down with Inverse to explore her influences, the tragic irony of Cinderella, and the film’s secret weapon: tapeworms. |