Rating: B+
Dir: Emilie Blichfeldt
Star: Lea Myren, Ane Dahl Torp, Thea Sofie Loch Næss, Isac Calmroth
Once upon a time, although not exactly happily ever after. If you’re going to do horror versions of public domain stories, this is the way to do them. In this case, the source is Cinderella. It’s not the first to have done so – there’s a reason I reviewed Cinderella’s Revenge the other day. But this subgenre finally delivers an adaptation which has had some thought put into it. In particular, it tells the story from the point of view, as the title states, of one of the original story’s villains. If you can imagine a cross between The Substance and Maleficent… Well, you have a better imagination than I do, but you get the general idea.
Elvira (Myren) becomes the stepsister in question when her mother Rebekka (Torp) re-marries – only immediately to become a widow. Elvira daydreams about being swept off her feet by Prince Julian (Calmroth) at the upcoming ball. But her plain looks, especially beside those of new sibling Agnes (Næss), make that a remote possibility. Until mother starts to reshape her daughter, with all the 19th-century tools available at her disposal. A chisel to reshape the nose (top). A tapeworm to lose weight. Fake eyelashes get stitched on, in gruesome close-up. And Agnes is tossed to the curb after Elvira catches her in the stable with the groom. Much like Elisabeth Sparkle, Elvira is prepared to go to any lengths to achieve her goals.
It’s likely no spoiler – fairy tale, duh – to say things do not work out as hoped (on the other hand, Elvira actually gets off easy, compared to the sisters in the Grimm version). I will admit, I’m not a hundred percent certain what is the intended message. Every good fairy story needs a moral, and I’m unsure “Lay off tapeworms as a diet aid” quite qualifies. It doesn’t seem to have the same air of all-encompassing misogyny as The Substance. There aren’t many male characters at all, and the sole case of overt sexism is when Elvira stumbles across Julien and his pals in the woods. It feels more as if she is the victim of her own choices, or at least her willing acquiescence to her mother’s demands and ambitions.
This still possesses an almost Shakespearean sense of inevitable tragedy, and you spend a lot of time (possibly a bit too much?) waiting for things to go wrong. However, Myren’s performance – I’m voting Mia Goth for the A24 remake – generally is strong enough to sustain your attention. It also makes Elvira far more sympathetic than in the Grimm version. Here, you’re almost pulling for her to win the prince over Agnes, who is undeniably pretty, and yet… The ways in which Blichfeldt twists the story basics into Cronenbergian horror are brilliant. For instance, it’s maggots from the corpse of Agnes’s late father which sew up her ball gown. And that’s before this turns into an episode of Monsters Inside Me. Bibbity, bobbity, spew.
The film is available to own on Digital Download now.