The Ugly Stepsister 4K 2025 Ultra HD 2160p

Story Movie

A woman with two daughters marries a widower whom she believes to be wealthy, but after his sudden death, she finds herself in even greater debt. Her eldest daughter, Elvira, the ugly stepsister of the beautiful Agnes, dreams of marrying a prince and is willing to do anything to become beautiful and shine at the upcoming ball. Seeing this as a profitable investment, her mother sends Elvira for surgery to correct the shape of her nose.

Review 4K Movie

Korali Farzha, with her film Substance, has nevertheless alarmed the public and set a trend for women's films with similar themes. And I think that's not a bad thing. Especially when the director has something to say.

And Norwegian debutante Emily Blikfeldt decided to speak out about the pursuit of external ideals through plastic surgery with the help of everyone's favorite fairy tale about Cinderella. Of course, not everything in the film is as clear-cut as in the Brothers Grimm's version, although their story is not exactly Disney-esque either.

Here, the focus shifts to one of Cinderella's stepsisters, Elvira. She is quite a pretty girl, but everyone around her, including her mother, tries to convince her otherwise. Her nose isn't right, she could stand to lose some weight, and her eyelashes are no good. By the way, the scene with the “eyelash extensions” is truly horrifying. How nice that now you can just glue them on, right, girls?

Elvira herself, like all the girls in the kingdom, is obsessed with the idea of marrying a prince. But it's not enough for her to languidly appear at the ball and mysteriously lose her shoe. Elvira tries in every way to “get in shape,” if that phrase is even appropriate for all the torture the heroine subjects herself to. I warn you right away, it's better not to eat lunch while watching this movie.

While watching, I couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't Elvira who was ugly, as the title suggests, but everything around her. It's this whole society that not only encourages but practically forces girls to hate themselves and mold their faces and bodies to some fictional standards of beauty. There is only one truly positive character in the film—the younger sister, who sincerely sympathizes with Elvira and dreads growing up, because then the same thing will happen to her.

And if we strip away the fairy-tale shell, isn't this our world? Plastic surgery and cosmetology are at their peak, girls strive to “sell themselves profitably,” so they go under the knife. And all because: if you want a rich and handsome prince, you have to fit the mold. Even if the prince is empty-headed and pompous, it's still a fairy tale, isn't it?

It's good that such films are starting to appear, because we girls simply need a shake-up when we once again look for flaws in ourselves while staring in the mirror. Life is not a pursuit of beauty and eternal competition for male attention. After all, true beauty comes from within. And it doesn't require you to make sacrifices or tear yourself apart. Just be passionate, be kind, and surround yourself with people who love you for who you are. Because you are special.