Beauty and the Breast – movie review

‘Get them off, sew me up, send me home – I am so much more than the sum of my breasts!’

Multiple award-winning documentary Beauty and the Breast is the poignant result of many years’ dedicated filming and friendship. Inspired by the idea she should share deeply personal stories with an audience in a bid to increase awareness, first-time filmmaker and Polish actress, Liliana Komorowska, set out to capture a compelling insight into the reality of breast cancer. To that end she befriended nine women, all very different in terms of age, background and attitude; all united by the disease they had vowed to beat.

The novice director then followed them through the treatment, tears and laughter along the way. ‘As they opened up and let me go deep underneath their skin, I was finally able to understand their pain as well as their need to speak out about the disease,’ Komorowska explains. ‘Their candid confessions in front of the camera were some of their most heartbreaking, yet liberating experiences. They also changed my own life forever.’

It is obvious from the outset that this is not going to be an easy film to watch, yet Komorowska’s ambition to document, remember and celebrate these women is valid and can teach the viewer many things. Indeed throughout the film I was reduced to tears several times, yet it’s also important to mention that I also laughed out loud – there are many lighter moments, and some of the characters are a joy to behold in their strength, defiance and humour.

The film opens with a handful of women, each of whom had initially been given a misdiagnosis. Lucie, a model, showed her doctor a sore lump next to her swollen breast, only to be told to ‘cut down on chocolate and coffee’. One year later, the lump was revealed to be the highest grade of tumour – the most aggressive kind. (Her husband makes a potent point speaking of how doctors are allowed to make mistakes while in other industries professionals would be held accountable.)

Among others we also meet Soraya, an ex-model and devoted mother who suspects her IVF treatment may have caused her cancer, and Amba, a devotee of holistic medicine who refuses chemotherapy on the advice of her psychic, preferring instead to fast and undergo a series of ‘alternative’ treatments including chlorine and colonic irrigation. Amba’s inclusion in this project – although occasionally frustrating – helps round out the film with a fresh point of view, while Soraya was the initial inspiration for the project, having approached Komorowska following chemotherapy.

Early on in the film we accompany Danuta to her diagnosis appointment with the oncologist, during which he recommends a double mastectomy. It’s a harrowing scene to watch. Danuta and her husband’s fear and tears are real and it is not a surprise when, doubting her own strength, Danuta declines to participate further in the film.

All the other women choose to continue their journey on camera though, and over the course of the documentary each one wins the viewer’s heart with her own unique take on mortality.

Take Wendy for example. She is surely the most loveable cancer survivor you’ll ever meet – a translator for the deaf / singer / songwriter, who throughout her journey discovers that her talent for poking fun at the disease, staying upbeat and allowing people to laugh in the face of taboo eventually translates into a meaningful new comedy career. Wendy includes the viewer in the side effects that make her chemotherapy so painful, yet never does she lose her good humour, even when admitting maybe it might be time to let go. Bra padding is publically paraded and wigs are torn off to the surprise and delight of all around, but it’s also the little things she does: the waltz with her chemo stand, serenading it, ‘I love you – give me LIFE’.

Then there is 27-year-old Kathleen, a sweet pre-school teacher who has battled cancer in various forms since the age of three. Her partner is particularly memorable in his devotion to her – he refuses to physically leave her side even during the most dangerous radiation therapy, against all the doctors’ warnings. At times the denial in this man’s face is uncomfortable to witness as he insists that ‘love is stronger than anything.’

Winner of Best Documentary Film at the World Film Festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Beauty and the Breast isn’t a sentimental study in self-pity – it’s a positive celebration of femininity and courage. We accompany the women to multiple surgeries, dinner parties, wig shopping, yoga, body painting therapy, sky-diving – each experience reinforcing their zest for life. Packed full of facts and figures, Beauty and the Breast paints an emotional vignette of breast cancer itself, lyrically describing the disease as being caused by a single genetically mutated cell – like a spelling mistake, which can change the whole meaning of the sentence.

Komorowska urges women of all ages to watch the film for an insight into how to recognise and in some cases prevent tragedy by being aware of their bodies, request mammograms from an earlier age and get tested for the gene mutation. ‘It is in our own hands, and we have to look at health from the perspective of how fragile it can be,’ she says. ‘Life is also about arming yourself against the “what if.”’

Download and/or stream Beauty and the Breast.