The Body Beautiful

Status:
Released
Production:
BFI
Aired:
1991-10-03
The Body Beautiful
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.
Drama
Characters
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
Novlet
Model