Euronews Culture sits down with Norwegian director Emilie Blichfeldt to talk about her savage and thought-provoking reframing of the Cinderella story, which wowed audiences in Sundance and Berlin.
“Most of us end up like the stepsisters – cutting off our toes to try to fit the shoe!”
Ever read or watched the classic fairy tale Cinderella and thought that the stepsisters were getting a raw deal?
If so, Norwegian director Emilie Blichfeldt has just the film for you.
Her debut feature, Den stygge stesøsteren (The Ugly Stepsister), was a hit at both this year’s Sundance and Berlin Film Festival – making it onto our Top 10 Films of this year’s Berlinale.
It deconstructs the Cinderella story and the pursuit of the beauty myth by telling the fairy tale from the perspective of ugly stepsister Elvira, played to perfection by Lea Myren. She’ll go to any lengths to feel accepted and to compete with her beautiful stepsister for the affections of the prince.
Brace yourselves. We mean ANY lengths.
Blichfeldt’s period film takes inspiration from the Brothers Grimm – from feet mutilation to looming crows – and the visceral body horror of David Cronenberg, to better comment on societal expectations regarding beauty standards that persist to this day. In this respect, it’s not dissimilar to another recent horror fairy tale – Coralie Fargeat’s Oscar-winning The Substance. Except Elvira’s transformation doesn’t require neon green Ozempic injections sent from a shady organization – she’ll go old school with low-tech surgeries and a tapeworm.
Rare are debut films so ambitious, bold and confidently executed, heralding a new and fully-formed cinematic voice we can’t wait to hear more from.
Euronews Culture sat down with Blichtfeldt to speak about turning Cinderella into a body horror tale, the importance of using practical effects and humour, as well as what it’s like to make a film that made one person throw up.
Euronews Culture: The Ugly Stepsister has already taken you to Sundance and the Berlin Film Festival. How has it felt to get such huge platforms for the launch of your debut feature?
Emilie Blichfeldt: It’s insane! How am I supposed to do this again, you know? But I’ve loved it, especially experiencing the film meeting its audience. That has been exhilarating.
The film sees you reframe the beloved fairy tale Cinderella. What is your personal relationship to fairy tales and specifically this story?
In Norway, we have a very specific relationship to Cinderella, because there’s a very strong Christmas tradition to watch a 70s Czech film called Three Hazelnuts for Cinderella (or Three Wishes for Cinderella). We have a strong relationship to that version. And I grew up on the Brothers Grimm version. I had a small pixie book. Do you know those?
Those small books published in the 50s?
Yes, those. And all the gory details made it – there was the cutting of the toes, but there were no illustrations of that. However, there was an illustration of the stepsister on the horse with the prince and three big drops of blood coming out of her shoe. That image stuck with me.
There seems to be a trend at the moment of reassessing and reframing past figures and giving a voice to “evil” or misunderstood characters. I’m thinking about Maleficent and Cruella for example. Why do you think that is?
I think fairy tales have been used as these very moral lessons, very moralistic stories in which you praise one type of person and demonize another to scare the young ones so they understand “this is the way to go and not this.” But the thing is that for most of us, marrying a prince is not so attainable…
Well there goes that dream!
(Laughs) But to answer your question, I never thought I would do that – anchor myself in this trend, because it feels like a big American studio thing. And a fairy tale movie is such a big undertaking. I didn’t think I would do that, but it wasn’t me that chose the stepsister. The stepsister chose me! When I rediscovered this fairy tale, I immediately identified with the moment when she is discovered, when she’s cut off her toes to better fit the shoe and is rejected by the prince. It was shocking to me that I could relate so strongly to this, because I’ve felt that shame, that sorrow, that distress when I’ve tried to fit in with imposed beauty ideals and failed. And it was shocking to me to identify with the character that I had previously despised and mocked and ridiculed. There’s a form of internalized self-hatred in this. Because everyone wants to be Cinderella, right?
Yes, most people associate with the lead character, who happens to be beautiful and gets what she wants. Even in the Disney version of Cinderella, the stepsisters are portrayed with huge teeth, comically large arses, and it almost forces children to be repelled by them.
Exactly, and most of us end up like the stepsisters: cutting off our toes to try to fit the shoe! In real life, most of us are them – doing insane stuff to try to change ourselves to be Cinderella. But we have no sympathy for those characters, and I think that’s very interesting. I’ve always been fascinated by women who have trouble with their body image, who are struggling to fit within femininity. I thought to myself that I had to do this story addressing why we’ve never sympathised for the character we’re most like in real life, and to challenge the idea of what beauty is.
You mention the ‘insane stuff’ people to do be more like the Cinderella character, and your film directly addresses the tyranny of beauty standards. After seeing the film, it reminded me of those horrific US shows like The Swan, which turned “ugly ducklings” into cookie-cutter pageant belles through plastic surgery. Or even The Bachelorette, where you have these women who line up in front of their modern prince to be chosen… It struck me that The Ugly Stepsister sticks to the 1812 Grimm Brothers tale, but that things haven’t evolved that much…
That’s exactly it. The Brothers Grimm version of Cinderella is also body horror. And today, we have that but packaged differently. It’s like the Kardashians, which is a makeover show. And these makeover scenes you see in countless movies… I grew up with movies like The Princess Diaries, Miss Congeniality, She’s All That… And I thought, what is it with this makeover idea? We love the hope of maybe being able to transform in the same way. It’s also sold as something fun, with plenty of upbeat music.
I really wanted to turn that on its head – to not make Cinderella evil and Elvira the evil one, but to have the stepsister as a three-dimensional character and not an archetype. And to address how makeovers and transformation are sold in society. That’s why during the first surgery scene in the film, I hope the audience is a little unsure of whether it’s going to be played for laughs or if it’s going to be horrible.
I wanted to talk to you about that scene, because even for a horror fan, that scene was intense. The little taps on the nose start off as funny, but the eye surgery made me squirm.
(Laughs) Excellent. I like to see people squirm!
Job well done then. The effects look very real and incredibly visceral.
They are all practical, and I’m glad you said visceral, because that’s the point. I knew I wanted practical effects because of my love for body horror and genre movies. It’s often the older ones that have the practical effects, and a lot of people say, ‘Oh, that’s retro’, but I thought I’d challenge myself on that. I had to negotiate with my producers, because it costs a lot of money to get practical effects, but I needed it to be visceral.
There’s also this uncanniness when it’s practical. Things don’t move smoothly or perfectly like with CGI. There are always small mistakes. There’s even an awareness in the audience that this is fake. If you use VFX, it’s too perfect. And with practical effects, you can also see that’s it’s not really real, but because it’s beautifully made, the audience makes this contract with the movie. ‘Ok, I know it’s not real, but I want it to be real. I’ll invest in this.’ And this distance still makes you safe as an audience. I also didn’t want there to be gore for the sake of it. The practical effects needed to hold ideas and metaphors, and not just be there for shock value.
Considering the timing of The Ugly Stepsister’s release, there’s a rather obvious parallel to be drawn with The Substance, which also deals with the shackling toxicity of beauty standards. I had the pleasure of talking to Coralie Fargeat last year and she mentioned how horror films and genre films are the best vehicles in order to address society’s ills. Do you share that opinion?
I think so. I think David Cronenberg is a great example of this. Who is better at describing modern human difficulties in relation to bodies and to this world? What’s really interesting with that is that it’s a paradox because body horror is a very intimate thing with the characters. It’s all about their minds and their bodies and how they interact. So, it’s a very intimate thing with the character, but at the same time it’s all about our common existence in this world. Cronenberg is so great when it comes to showing society in one body.
People love to label, especially when it comes to marketing films and recommending them. Are you comfortable with The Ugly Stepsister being described as new wave feminist horror?
Sure! I think if The Substance hadn’t happened, I think the body horror label would be much harder to sell or to lure people in with. But now, it’s like The Substance has trailblazed. It’s like audiences got the taste for it, and they just want more! And I’m gonna give it to them!
Speaking of taste, one thing I loved about your film is the role of food and the act of eating – whether it’s cake, spaghetti or a tapeworm egg. It’s something you see a lot of in fairy tales – the apple in Snow White or the ingestion of a drink in Alice in Wonderland… Can you tell me more about this aspect?
Eating in fairy tales is often a very fatal choice. If you eat something, something will happen. I knew my film was going to be a body horror and I knew she was going to cut off her toes at the end. When I was writing the script, my mission was to try to get the audience to understand why she would do such a thing and sympathize with her in that moment and not just think of her as a mad woman. I wanted to infuse it with more body horror and in re-reading the Grimm fairy tale and researching these things, I found the tapeworm diet. Beyond gore and splatter, body horror always carries meaning. I couldn’t just let her eat the tapeworm egg and then just get skinny. It was more interesting for me to get her to eat this thing, as it was the perfect metaphor for what happens when you are the victim of a society that tells you’re ugly and you’re living under the burden of feeling ugly. Many people result to internalizing that gaze and starting to self-objectify and become complicit.
There’s a moment that struck me regarding this and the stranglehold beauty standards have: when Elvira is told that it’s what’s inside that matters, but that she’s brave because she’s changing her outside to match what she knows is on the inside. It’s warped.
Yes, and like those US shows you mentioned, it’s common. That language capitalizes on insecurities. Everyone says that real beauty is on the inside, but people still give real value based on outer appearance. When Elvira eats the egg, she is actually doing something to herself by her own “free will”- that’s when she internalizes the objectifying gaze, and it starts growing in her belly and eating her up from the inside, both literally and metaphorically. And what goes in has to come out…
It’s another tough scene to watch…
Good! It should be. That’s one of my favourite scenes because it’s also a very emotional moment when Elvira is rid of this worm and all that it represents.
It’s also quite a funny moment in many ways. When the tapeworm is yanked out, the mother figure in the same room is about to give a blow job. Simultaneously, one phallic thing comes out while another literally goes in…
(Laughs) I’m so glad you found that funny, because every time I see that scene, I wonder: ‘Who wrote that? Was it me?’ (Laughs)
It’s a tricky balancing act, but throughout the film, there are so many humorous moments like this one. I’m thinking of the line “What kind of virgin fucks a stable boy?”, or even the salmon baron at the ball called Frederick von Bluckfish…
You get my humour! Long live people with dark senses of humour!
Amen. But people often forget that alongside horror, humour is also an incredibly powerful tool to reflect how society is still riddled with hypocrisies and ills.
That’s it, and it’s also a way to endure, right? Humour is a wonderful way of dealing with shit. For me, the best way of dealing with myself is to use humour, because it allows you to see yourself with a distance and see how ridiculous things are. In humour, there can be a lot of warmth and self-except acceptance. There’s hope in humour. And considering it’s quite a grim – pun intended – story I’m telling, I want people to be able to look at it, to relate to it, and to go out after seeing it and not feel beaten down by it. Humour is so important in this respect and hopefully contributes to people asking themselves why we value our appearances so much.
You mentioned at the start of this interview that watching the film meet its audience was a source of joy. Have there been any reactions that have shocked you, or that you weren’t expecting when talking to members of the public?
I find it delightful that people are seeing stuff that I haven’t seen or thought of. I was also very surprised that it’s become a quite a discussion point whether Cinderella is still a virgin after having sex – in the sense of which hole she takes it in.
Really? I didn’t even think about that!
No, a lot of people don’t! I don’t have an answer for which hole it is! And what’s funny about it is that it says a lot about the people watching the film and how it relates to the themes. (Laughs) I love that! I think that no matter what hole she takes it in, she doesn’t care because it’s sex and she’s natural and not ashamed. I love that for her. Otherwise, when it comes to reactions, I didn’t think I would make someone throw up!
Did you?
At the premiere in Sundance. It was insane! But between you and me, and whoever reads this interview, I don’t think it was the movie. I think it was a bad lunch! Still, it’s great PR!(Laughs) And it’s really touching to see those who feel represented by the movie and who reflect on what beauty and ugliness is and where those standards come from. That’s a dream come true.
Even on Letterboxd and the comments left on there, people are talking about how other cinemagoers reacted. Like “the guy next to me gagged twice!” I think that’s just so beautiful when you can experience something like that with strangers and it creates a collective experience. Something you wouldn’t get when you watch it alone at home on your screen… I hope that genre movies are the ones that are going to keep the cinemas alive because of that, you know? That would also be a dream come true.
The Ugly Stepsister is out in cinemas on 7 March in Norway. It’s heading to German theatres on 5 June and Spanish cinemas on 10 October. More European release dates to follow. Shudder have secured the rights, so it will also be heading to the streaming platform soon.
