[yasr_overall_rating]
A first time documentary filmmaker offers a compelling insight into a devastating reality of breast cancer, as seen through the eyes of several female patients helping demystify the disease while painting poignant and often humorous intimate portraits of survival.
The insidious disease breast cancer robs even its survivors of normality, leaving behind the visual and deep emotional trauma of a victim, in most cases a woman, who is reminded of her suffering every day. Any time she showers or dresses, for many survivors where once there were healthy breasts there are now scars. “Beauty and the Breast” follows nine women as they face their own devastated bodies and the emotional turmoil elicited by the losses they feel and see each day. Through interviews with each woman and the important people around her, director Liliana Komorowska gives viewers an intimate look at the experience cancer brings, the choices each woman must face regarding her treatment and outlook after treatment. The choices aren’t simple and can affect everything from physical appearance to family relationships.
Each woman the film introduces survives in her own unique way. Some have preventative surgery to stave off further cancers, while others use holistic meditation and yoga or a strict diet filled with antioxidants. Most combine elements of traditional treatments with some form of meditation or diet. But focusing on treatment really misses the documentary’s message.
The film really shines when each woman discusses her emotional struggle through treatment and how it has changed her view of herself and her world. Each is different in the way she adapts to those changes, and Komorowska allows her subjects to blossom gradually as the film moves like a leisurely stroll through the garden. Though each woman has her own intrinsic beauty, none is a wilting flower. They are hardy Quebecers facing challenges as they always have, with an independent and implacable will.
While offering the occasional narration, Komorowska stays out of the way, allowing her subjects to speak for themselves. Several scenes include conversations between two or more of the women or one woman and her partner discussing the support they give each other. Watch for a particularly funny scene around a conference table as the subject turns to the many uses for padding used to fill bras and give a woman who’s undergone a mastectomy the illusion of breasts.
We hear first-hand the limitations of life with chemotherapy. While one woman maintains her routine as an avid equestrian, she has trouble walking up and down stairs. Another wonders if the pain and humiliation is really worth it. Still another forgoes chemotherapy altogether, opting for natural, holistic treatments. We see her reunite with a daughter from whom she’d been estranged for years. But even this wonderful occasion is tainted.
These conversations flow naturally, giving the film an indisputable authenticity. While the settings change frequently, as do the subjects, we know we’re seeing the unvarnished truth as each woman sees it. It’s emotional and messy at times, but more often it rises above simple grief to something more gripping and tangible. We realize we know women like these, almost any one of us could sit down and write the name of a breast cancer victim we know on a card. In fact, it was hard for me to write about. Not because it is a movie told from a woman’s point of view, but because of my own family experience with breast cancer.
The men appearing here are saints for the most part, supporting their partners unconditionally. They encourage, support, cajole, and hold their partners when necessary. This brings me to one of my few criticisms. Breast cancer cases in men have risen steadily over the years, but here there’s only a passing reference to men with the disease. I understand, “Beauty and the Breast” is essentially a feminist film, but feminist doesn’t mean an absence of men. The conversational structure of its narrative causes it to drag in places. This gives some relief from the unrelentingly emotional nature of its subject, but instead of adding to the feel of the story, these moments slow its momentum and lesson the tension.
Filming feels somewhat like a home movie. The camera follows each subject into offices, city streets, parks, homes, and hospitals. The director takes advantage of whatever scenery is at hand for her bridge shots, adeptly placing voice-overs throughout these sequences. A sparse musical score barely peeks through the voices on screen, unobtrusive yet rising at just the right moments.
Komorowska weaves stories in between each other creating a patchwork of raw emotion ultimately uplifting in its honesty. The film’s end is really a journey’s end where the audience understands the powerful inner strength of these women. No matter the outcome of her disease, she has won the fight for herself through perseverance and the affirmation we see in the people around her. The fight was worth it.
Available to view on GOOGLE PLAY
