

The Body Beautiful
23 minutes1991-10-03
6.2
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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.
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

Saffron Burrows
Model

Nadja Carr
Model

Ann Parks
Model

Jane Yeomans
Model
