The Ugly Stepsister

Oscar Nominee – Best Makeup & Hairstyling

Short pooper:
Similar to the Cinderella story this film inspires itself from, the efforts of the two stepsisters to attract the attention of the Prince end up being in vain; Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Næss) and Julian (Isac Calmroth) fall for each other and run off. Meanwhile, they abandon their mother Rebekka (Ane Dahl Torp), both mutilated and traumatized but free of her grip, while the decomposing corpse of Agnes’ father, Otto (Ralph Carlsson) lies forgotten inside the house.
Longer version:
Having had her beautiful gown torn to shreds by her older stepsister Elvira (Lea Myren), a heartbroken Agnes has a dream in which her late mother (Agnieszka Zulewska) provides her with a carriage and a dazzling pair of shoes so she can go to the Royal Ball, warning her that she must return by midnight to prevent the carriage from turning into a pumpkin and leaving her stranded; at the same time, silkworms pouring from Otto’s corpse fix the destroyed gown, to her delight.

Elvira and Alma (Flo Fagerli) show up at the Royal Ball, with Elvira catching the attention of Prince Julian and motivating him to do the opening dance with her; however, before this happens, Agnes -with her face covered by a veil- shows up and distracts him. An enraged Elvira, also feeling sick from the tapeworm she previously consumed for “beauty purposes”, retreats to a room where she starts to vomit larvae. Her mother Rebekka forces her to dance with many of the other men in attendance -none of whom interest Elvira- and, as she figures out the veiled woman is actually Agnes, she is horrified.

Meanwhile, the clock strikes midnight and Agnes, remembering what her mother warned her, runs off, leaving a confused Julian behind; in the process, one of her shoes is accidentally left behind. After this, an Edict is made public, by virtue of which “Prince Julian will search, find and marry the rightful owner of the shoe”. Realizing Agnes was the one who left the shoe back at the Palace, Elvira comes at her with a knife and demands the other shoe, which Agnes fearfully produces. Goaded by Rebekka, Elvira gruesomely cuts off the toes off one of her feet, trying to get the foot to fit into the shoe; but Rebekka mocks her “having hacked the wrong foot”, for which she then, much at Alma’s shock, drugs Elvira and chops the toes off the other foot.

The next day, Elvira wakes to a trumpet fanfare that announces Prince Julian at their house. Not being able to walk due to her mutilated feet, she struggles and crawls, falling down the stairs and breaking her nose and teeth to try to get to the Prince; but to no avail. By the time she makes it downstairs, Agnes has already caught the attention of Prince Julian, having correctly tried the shoe in her foot and all, both hauling off together to live happily ever after. An emotionally drained Elvira is convinced by Alma to take the necessary antidote so she can excrete the tapeworm -which, after all, did nothing good for her- off her body. She does, and a surprisingly long tapeworm comes out of her.

The movie ends with both sisters, fed up with the manipulation and self-absorbedness of their mother, stealing some of her jewels and leaving her forever, while Rebekkah just cares about performing oral sex on a Nobleman visiting the house and some ravens feast on the remains of the excreted tapeworm. The last shot is of Otto’s rotting corpse, forgotten by everyone inside the house.