The Body Beautiful (1991)
Overview
This bold, stunning exploration of a white mother who undergoes a radical mastectomy and her Black daughter who embarks on a modeling career reveals the profound effects of body image and the strain of racial and sexual identity on their charged, intensely loving bond. At the heart of Onwurah’s brave excursion into her mother’s scorned sexuality is a provocative interweaving of memory and fantasy. The filmmaker plumbs the depths of maternal strength and daughterly devotion in an unforgettable tribute starring her real-life mother, Madge Onwurah.
Production Companies
Additional Info
| Budget | $0.00 |
|---|---|
| Revenue | $0.00 |
| Original Language | en |
| Popularity | 1.419 |
Directed By
Ngozi Onwurah
Crew
Richard Gray
Mags Scholes
Simon Onwurah
Lin Solomon
Ngozi Onwurah
Ngozi Onwurah
Peter Collis
Ben Gibson
Kate Ogborn
Jonathon Hirst
Anthony Quigley
Liz Webber
Sarah Carr
Kanayo Onwurah
TOP CAST
Madge Onwurah
Narrator (voice) Mother/Herself
Rosie Rowell
Narrator (voice) Daughter
Sian Ejiwunmi-Le Berre
The Daughter (as Sian Martin)
Brian Bovell
Young Man
Maureen Douglass
Young Mother
Valentine Nonyela
Peter
Saffron Burrows
Model
Nadja Carr
Model
Ann Parks
Model
Jane Yeomans
Model
Novlet
Model
Similar Movies
Sounds of Sand
On the one hand, there’s the desert eating away at the land. The endless dry season, the lack of water. On the other there’s the threat of war. The village well has run dry. The livestock is dying. Trusting their instinct, most of the villagers leave and head south. Rahne, the only literate one, decides to head east with his three children and Mouna, his wife. A few sheep, some goats, and Chamelle, a dromedary, are their only riches. A tale of exodus, quest, hope and fatality.
Paris Je T'aime
Olivier Assayas, Gus Van Sant, Wes Craven and Alfonso Cuaron are among the 20 distinguished directors who contribute to this collection of 18 stories, each exploring a different aspect of Parisian life. The colourful characters in this drama include a pair of mimes, a husband trying to chose between his wife and his lover, and a married man who turns to a prostitute for advice.
Big
When a young boy makes a wish at a carnival machine to be big—he wakes up the following morning to find that it has been granted and his body has grown older overnight. But he is still the same 13-year-old boy inside. Now he must learn how to cope with the unfamiliar world of grown-ups including getting a job and having his first romantic encounter with a woman.
A Jury of Her Peers
A Jury of Her Peers is a 1980 short film directed by Sally Heckel, adapted from the story by Susan Glaspell. A farm woman is accused of murdering her husband in early 1900's Midwest America. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.
After We Fell
Just as Tessa's life begins to become unglued, nothing is what she thought it would be. Not her friends nor her family. The only person that she should be able to rely on is Hardin, who is furious when he discovers the massive secret that she's been keeping. Before Tessa makes the biggest decision of her life, everything changes because of revelations about her family.
Tam Cam: The Untold
"Tam Cam: The Untold" is inspired by the fairy tale Tam Cam. Father died early, the stepmother and Cam bullying Tam until she meet Prince (Isaac) and became his wife. However, the story of the film much is still not mentioned in the fairy tale "Cinderella", will be the first time Ngo Thanh Van transmission of movies using new image and unique.
Upa! An Argentinian Movie
Nina, Ailén and Fernando are an actress, a producer and a director who want to shoot and independent feature film in Argentina.
The Sleepwalker
A young couple, Kaia and Andrew, are renovating Kaia's secluded family estate. Their lives are violently disrupted upon the unexpected arrival of Kaia's sister, Christine, and her fiancé, Ira.
Song One
Estranged from her family, Franny returns home when an accident leaves her brother comatose. Retracing his life as an aspiring musician, she tracks down his favorite musician, James Forester. Against the backdrop of Brooklyn’s music scene, Franny and James develop an unexpected relationship and face the realities of their lives.
Roman Dialogue
'The subject of this film is the conversation between a man and a woman. A couple, maybe lovers, maybe married, it doesn't matter. (...) During this conversation, we do not see but the city of Rome. I wanted to transmit that what Rome provokes in me, the feeling of an intrinsic matter, indissoluble, in difference with Paris, made of small parks and open spaces, crossed by the sky and the wind. Hand in hand with the film, the difficulty of the two lovers assumes a clearer, more explicit form. But as much as, in my opinion, it is impossible to describe and film Rome, the difficulty in the love of a couple can never be totally understood.' - Marguerite Duras, Venice film festival catalogue, 1982.
52 Tuesdays
Sixteen-year-old Billie’s reluctant path to independence is accelerated when her mother reveals plans for gender transition, and their time together becomes limited to Tuesdays. This emotionally charged story of desire, responsibility, and transformation was filmed over the course of a year—once a week, every week, only on Tuesdays.
Hellion
When motocross and heavy metal obsessed, 13-year-old Jacob's delinquent behavior forces CPS to place his little brother Wes with his aunt, Jacob and his emotionally absent father must finally take responsibility for their actions and each other in order to bring Wes home.
Infinitely Polar Bear
A manic-depressive mess of a father tries to win back his wife by attempting to take full responsibility of their two young, spirited daughters, who don't make the overwhelming task any easier.
Pietà
Maria's ex-boyfriend Kristian is homeless and moves back in with Maria. Maria works as a nurse at the home of Eeva, a paralyzed writer.
Daimi
Daimi is 12 years. It's Christmas, and she has tragically been left in a dark home with her only friend, a pet pig. Daimi's imagination overshadows reality. A reality she realizes with a scream. Daimi is not as alone as she thinks.
Tales of Meeting and Parting
Tales of Meeting and Parting is a 1985 English language short film directed by Lesli Linka Glatter, starring Jeanne Sakata, Patricia Ayame Thomson and Patti Yasutake. An elderly Japanese man recalls his experiences as a young interpreter during a particularly brutal prisoner-of-war interrogation. The kindness he showed was unexpectedly returned following the war when he was being held captive by the Allies. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.
Novitiate
In the early 1960s, during the Vatican II era, a young woman training to become a nun struggles with issues of faith, sexuality and the changing church.
Couples and Robbers
Couples and Robbers is a 1981 English language comedy/crime film written and directed by Clare Peploe, starring Frances Low, Rik Mayall and Peter Eyre. Two couples -- one with all the riches that dreams are made of, the other with only dreams and schemes -- are brought together by the plotting of the poorer couple. A pair of newlyweds wander through the city streets, bickering about their poverty, until they are distracted by the opulent home of a lawyer. Impulsively, the couple makes off with the lawyer's vehicle for one night of extravagant indulgence. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.
Lieberman in Love
Joe Lieberman is attracted to Shaleen. They begin a professional relationship, which continues even after Joe develops a romantic interest in a woman named Kate, who is married.