The Body Beautiful

The Body Beautiful

1991 · 25 min · ★ 6.3 · Drama

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.

Directed by Ngozi Onwurah · Written by Ngozi Onwurah

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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
Louis Altinson
Linda Dobson
Richard Gray
Haley McKay
Michael McKay
Nina McKay

Make it a double feature

36m together

The Body Beautiful

Flight of the Swan

Both from Ngozi Onwurah.

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