“There is only one Cinderella, one ideal of beauty, and the rest of us struggle to fit into her shoe.”

To Emilie Blichfeldt the idea of ​​carrying out The ugly stepsister It occurred to him during a nap. “With only twenty minutes of rest, my brain makes very curious associations. I was working on another film with a character about two meters tall and I imagined him as Cinderella. I saw that she was getting on the horse with the prince and her shoe was filled with blood, so she realized that she was not Cinderella, but her stepsister,” says this admirer of David Cronenberg in conversation. The Vanguard. Blichfeldt has just won the award for best film at the Sitges festival and is one of the voices that will undoubtedly sound strong in women’s cinema.

The story starts from the inspiration of Cinderella and the princea film from the seventies “that we see in Norway every Christmas”, like the version of the Grimm brothers’ tale, where the heroine’s stepsisters are able, encouraged by their mother, to cut off some of their fingers so that the shoe ends up fitting. “When I woke up from my nap I was shocked because for the first time I had sympathized with a character, the stepsister, with whom I had never before shown even an ounce of sympathy.”

Blichfeldt claims that he came to identify with her. “Not only do I wear a size 42, and in Norway there aren’t many women’s shoe stores that sell it, but I’ve also lived a long time trying to fit into the ideal of beauty. And I thought: I’m not the only one who identifies with her. There is only one Cinderella, one ideal of beauty, and the rest of us fight to fit into her shoe.”

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With a spectacular production design, the director recreates a universe full of hypocrisy where none of the characters resemble the one in the original fairy tale. Only Alma, who plays Elvira’s sister, the stepsister of the title, shows common sense and compassion. “All of my characters, except Alma, are victims. And victims of the patriarchy. And they are horrible in some way, so I needed someone to give me hope. And I think that if you are a younger brother and you are still a child, you have not yet been subjected to objectification and these brain worms, then maybe you can see the madness or the hypocrisy and therefore be critical before you are subjected to it,” he admits.

We must stand together to defeat the tyranny of an industry that manipulates us, that calls itself the beauty industry when it actually sells cosmetic products, and that makes money by taking advantage of people’s insecurities.

Emilie Blichfeldt

The director confesses that she suffered from body dysmorphia, and “I had no chance of getting out of there because my vision of myself was corrupted. So I needed Alma to take me by the hand and tell me: ‘What you see is not true. You have been manipulated.'” That is why he believes it is essential “that we not think that this is a personal matter that we have to resolve alone. In reality, it is a political matter.” And he emphasizes: “We must stay united and help each other to defeat the tyranny of an industry that manipulates us, that calls itself the beauty industry when in reality it sells appearance products and that makes so much money by taking advantage of people’s insecurities.”

The fact of setting the story as a period drama is due to the fact that “for centuries women have been objects of desire and we have tried to change our body or appearance to become the ideal of beauty.” The director recognizes that “it is quite ironic that we continue to play this role of object, although in the Western world we have emancipated ourselves and can be masters of ourselves.”

Actress Lea Myren, who subjects herself to scenes of great crudeness in which she lets herself break her nose or sew on false eyelashes to make the prince fall in love with her, says that it was easy to get under his skin. “It is my first film and it has been a dream come true to play Elvira. I am a super feminist and this story is. Everything was very clear in the script and I think that body horror is an excellent medium to show extreme things, such as beauty standards. It is an easy way to show the public something shocking and make people scream, laugh and close their eyes. But deep down, there is a message,” she expresses.

Regarding her character, she believes that “she is not innocent either because she also behaves badly with Agnes” and that “we cannot apologize for her.” “The film – he continues – talks about the need to stop before it’s too late. Stop before you hurt yourself or hurt others in terms of achieving a certain standard of beauty.”

The role required prior preparation. “We worked half a year before on her appearance. And I think that was an important part of my development of the character, because I wanted to get into her body, because it is a body that is not mine, you know? We used prosthetics, but we also tried to beautify her in our own way. I think it was a big step and of great importance for me to understand her body language and how she behaves,” he acknowledges.

When I was little I was a fan of ‘Cinderella’. But then you grow up and think, ‘Wait, what story is this? Do I have to fit into this little shoe and wait for a prince to come save me? No, thanks’

Thea Sofie Loch NæssActress

For her part, Thea Sofie Loch Næss, who takes on the role of Cinderella under the name Agnes, says that as a child she was a fan of the Disney story. “But then you grow up and think, ‘Wait, what story is this? I have to fit into this little shoe and wait for a prince to come save me? No, thank you.'” However, she loved playing a Cinderella “where she has a lot more autonomy and can be a real person who’s not perfect. “We are used to seeing her as a kind of victim, a damsel in distress, but here, she also acts to save herself.”