The film is based on the Brothers Grimm’s Cinderella fairy tale.
Set in a kingdom that, judging by the costumes and props, seems to draw inspiration from 1870s Europe, a widow with two daughters marries a widowed nobleman who has a beautiful daughter named Agnes. Tragically, he dies on the very day of their wedding. After his death, the family is faced with survival challenges, and so the widow tries to marry off her eldest daughter, Elvira, putting her through a series of primitive plastic surgeries to align her appearance with the beauty standards of the time—hoping she can compete with her stunning stepsister Agnes at the prince’s upcoming ball. Elvira, already madly in love with the prince thanks to… reading his poetry collection (!), is willing to do anything to win his hand.
The film belongs to the body horror genre, infused with plenty of black comedy. Several scenes are downright shocking: the nose-breaking procedure, the eyelash grafting, and, most memorably, the foot amputation scene so Elvira can fit into the glass slipper (a detail that appears in the original Grimm tale, and this may well be the first time it’s been shown on screen). What’s truly terrifying is how many women in the audience will see themselves reflected in this hopeless struggle to conform to whatever beauty mold the system imposes—often just to attract men like the prince, who aren’t even worth it.
Both leading characters, Agnes and Elvira, might seem shallow at first glance—Agnes is only after the prince for financial security (while secretly in love with someone else), and Elvira is obsessed with him despite not even knowing him—but their choices are understandable within the context of the era, which was brutally unkind to women.
Emilie Blichfeldt’s direction gives the dark fairy tale a completely fresh perspective, drawing inspiration from 1970s filmmaking and editing styles (think Kubrick, or Soviet fairy-tale films), as well as from 1870s aesthetics—Degas’ ballet paintings, fashion plates, elaborate costumes, and more. All performances were excellent, but Lea Myren (as Elvira) was absolutely phenomenal.
All in all, this is a Cinderella for adults—the kind of version Disney would never dare to make.
Watch it.
