La Bonita

Filmmaker Maria del Mar Rosario, originally from Puerto Rico, made this short documentary as a student at the EICTV (International Film and Television School) in Havana, examining the social pressure on women to be “beautiful” in the harsh artificial light of painful aesthetic procedures.

As the opening credits appear, we hear the voices of women asserting that if you want to find a man—and keep him—you have only one choice. With the objective gaze of an anthropologist, Rosario then gives an unvarnished and challenging view of the treatment of the female body, with the application of acrylic nails and permanent make-up, and the removal of pubic hair using wax.

With few words, the film raises the question of whether all this is really necessary. But at no point does La Bonita become didactic; subtle narrative interventions make it not only “body horror” but also “body humor”.