Dysfunction and self-loathing
Lovely & Amazing examines the relationships that women have with their bodies
REVIEW
LOVELY AND AMAZING
Starring Catherine Keener, Emily Mortimer and Brenda Blethyn
Written and directed by Nicole Holofcener.
Opens Friday, July 26
Uptown Screen
Lovely & Amazing, director Nicole Holofcener’s follow-up to Walking and Talking, will undoubtedly receive rave reviews. It is thematically strong, contains substantial roles for women and never flinches from what it sets out to do. It’s one of those independent films that could very well be critic-proof – but that doesn’t mean it’s actually good.
The point of Holofcener’s movie is clear: women in today’s society suffer from low self-esteem brought on by negative body images and societal pressures. Whether the pressure comes from the men in their lives, is passed down from mother to daughter or is the product of Hollywood’s vision of feminine perfection, it is an inescapable fact of being a woman in North America. This is good stuff. Real stuff. Important stuff. And Holofcener never backs down from her position.
Jane Marks (Brenda Blethyn), the matriarch of Lovely & Amazing, sets a fine example for her daughters with a little cosmetic surgery – liposuction. She decides she wants to fit into a Size 8 again and that desire is strong enough that she risks a procedure that ultimately puts her life in jeopardy. We never quite figure out why this lady has body issues, but that is ultimately not important. All we need to know is that she’s not happy with herself and she feels her body needs reconstruction.
Jane’s eldest daughter, Michelle (Catherine Keener), is trapped in a loveless marriage, playing the roles of housewife and struggling artist. Her husband doesn’t believe in her art, cheats on her with her best friend and pounds away at her self-esteem with passive-aggressive celibacy. All of this makes Michelle a bitter woman who longs to be the object of anyone’s affection – even if that "anyone" is a 17-year-old (Jake Gyllenhaal) who’s only interested in objectifying her.
Michelle’s younger sister, Elizabeth (Emily Mortimer), is even worse off. She’s a struggling actress obsessed with her looks. She tries to make her boyfriends believe that this obsession is both necessary for and caused by her profession. But it's really an excuse to be neurotic about her jiggling triceps and sidesteps the obvious dysfunction rampant in her family – denial on top of self-loathing.
But the full weight of self-loathing is reserved for Jane’s youngest daughter – eight-year-old Annie (Raven Goodwin). Annie was a crack baby adopted by Jane, and her self-esteem issues run far deeper than those of her grown-up siblings. She’s overweight, hates the colour of her skin, longs to straighten her hair and has the early makings of an eating disorder – no surprise considering the familial and societal environments she’s being raised in.
Unfortunately, Holofcener conveys her characters’ self-loathing too well. They are so egocentric, so messed up by patriarchal society and so ugly inside that none of them can live up to the movie’s title. None of these women are lovely and amazing, although Holofcener has them tell us they are in their dialogue. Perhaps if she had shown us that, rather than telling us, her movie might be worth seeing. |
