Customer Reviews

Breasts - A Documentary

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This came on HBO one night and I watched it until the end. I was totally fascinated, and no, not just by the toplessness. These are real people, with stories to tell that are worth hearing. As a "guy," it was highly enlightening to me to see how women view their breasts, and how they view all the issues, ideas, fantasies, etc. that are associated with them. Their stories were sad, happy, triumphant, and, yes, maybe occasionally a bit titillating (excuse the pun).

The story of the woman who had a mastectomy hit me the hardest. At first, I admit, I flinched at the sight of her scar. But as I listened to her story and realized her triumph, I started to understand things about women that I'd never understood before. It was an invaluable experience.

Another thing that I liked about this documentary was that even though it was given from the female point of view, it was not exclusionary. I didn't have the feeling that I was a male intruder trespassing on forbidden territory, as I do sometimes when I see some female-oriented films.

After the initial shock/buzz of seeing so many different types of women with no shirts on, it wears off. The thing that draws you into this movie and keeps you there are these women's stories. In the end this becomes a very human document, a short visit with some fascinating and beautiful people who have a lot to say. Anybody looking to this for titillation will be mostly disappointed, but anyone with a brain will learn from "Breasts."

I purchased this video for a course on the cultural and historical issues surrounding Western attitudes towards women's bodies and was thrilled with the content and presentation. Participants (mostly topless or in bras) discuss their attitudes and experiences involving their breasts. Puberty, sexual partners, breastfeeding, breast cancer, breast enlargement/reduction and one lovely transsexual's experience of getting her breasts are touched upon (forgive the pun!). Between topical segments, the director has spliced in such things as movie clips from 1950s puberty films and early 20th century "pornography" clips involving breasts. With each of these women's experience, the viewer can draw widespread cultural expectations and historical tradition involving the female body.

Ms.O'Gorman (prod descript) said if nothing else, its a good one for women. I disagree. I was So surprised watching this dvd How amazing and important this film Really is...Its ONE for all Men and Women..And maybe? Men might Understand much More about a woman's breast. Outstanding, despite low on money project would get 10 stars if i could. Well worth the 50 mins of quite a story.

The hour-long documentary Breasts directed by Meema Spadola (who also made a film called Private Dicks: Men Exposed) is a great resource for open dialogue about female bodies, specifically, breasts. Composed of a range of viewpoints--large and small, young and old--the film allows the women to talk about how they feel about their upper bodies and how breasts affect their interactions with the world. Although I am not sure I learned much from watching the film, it was refreshing to hear other opinions on breasts.

I watched the movie with a male friend of mine who I assumed wouldn't enjoy the film much, but afterwards we talked a little bit about his experiences. The film was a good jumping off point for the two of us to discuss other body issues that women have and initiated a few questions about breasts and how women might feel about them. He thought, though, there could have been a larger diversity of breasts and viewpoints and that by limiting the film to 22 voices, many of whom are only shown in specific segments, there were a lot of perspectives excluded.

I thought the film attempted to show women from various walks of life, but it is true that many of my own feelings about breasts were not echoed in what the women on-screen were saying. I did particularly enjoy the mother-daughter pairs who appeared together and discussed not only their own bodies but their feelings about each other's bodies. I think these scenes revealed a lot about how women feel about the bodies of those around them. I also particularly enjoyed the historic clips that were interspersed throughout the interviews because they did a lot to show different ways in which breasts have been depicted over time as well as kept the tone of the film lively.

One issue I did have is that the film raised the question of the power of breasts, something my male friend immediately picked up on and was joking about, without doing much to provide an answer. None of the women really were able to describe the power of having breasts in a clear manner. Instead, it came off as a vague and questionable notion. I would have liked to have seen a few more academic and scientific voices in the mix that could have possibly explained things like biological reasons for the power of breasts and sociological and psychological points of interest. However, as a film that provides a frank glance at what some women think about their breasts, I thought this film was worth seeing. Only an hour long, it easily held my attention and I was disappointed when it was over.

Even though many women assume that they are the target audience, I think this film is particularly appropriate for men. It allows them an opportunity to see women's bodies through the eyes of the women they belong to and to understand a little about what breasts mean to those of us who have them. I also thought the film would be an excellent resource for women with questions about body image who might need some reassurance that the way they feel about their breasts is completely normal.

BREASTS - A DOCUMENTARY comprises interviews with about two dozen women of all shapes, sizes, and ages discussing their bosoms. Most of the subjects appear topless.

The two BREASTS women I find most attractive, K.C. and Shana, are A-cups. K.C. says she has never needed a bra because she's so small on top. But it would not surprise me to learn lots of men like K.C., as she looks fine and carries herself well. The documentary includes no male subjects even though a number of the women say they like the attention their bosoms draw from the opposite sex. A go-go dancer says most strip clubs won't hire small-breasted women. But how many men care about size that much? And how many guys fixate on girls' tops? BREASTS includes stories about male doctors who examine their female patients' breasts when the women were only complaining about a sore throat, but does a handful of jerks represent all men?

Also, do women in other countries think about their breasts as much as Americans? If the BREASTS filmmakers shoot a sequel, that would interest me.

In its original 50-minute version, I rate BREASTS three stars, as I would like the women to speak longer. But in its D.V.D. release, one of the extras offers another 25-odd minutes of interviews, so I award a fourth star.

BREASTS - A DOCUMENTARY does not seem to try to draw a conclusion about America's breast-obsessed culture. Each woman speaks for herself, and the film leaves the rest of the discussion to the viewer.

Very good to watch! I am generally pretty happy with my body but it had crossed my mind that my A's were to small, and the problem with clothing not being made to fit my bust has always been a little frustrating. After having watched this video ... I'm comfortably happy and satisfied with my body. Go me! and go Breasts - A Documentary!

I'm not sure what else they could have done to get a 100% review so in the end it is easily recommendable but it was just missing some-thing or other. Eh ...

A jazz scholar with a Ph.D. in Musicology once told me that many jazz musicians will perform as badly as possible just to see if anyone notices. This film is the cinematographic equivalent of such deliberate badness. Maybe you thought that a bunch of feminists with, if you were lucky, very dry senses of humor might try to shock you. You might have thought you sensed that that's what this film is about. But it isn't. If you think you can even rely on charm and a sense of dignity you will get a different and bigger shock than you expected. This film is a Bronx cheer at the fair sex. These women are not trying to make breasts seem nice. I watched each scene until it was clear that the disgust level was what they were actually testing for in every case. Every female I saw over the age of twelve was droll, stupid, or dull, either ugly, tasteless, or in some other way testing your sense not of the truly absurd, which might have been interesting, but of the offensive absurd. They don't have interesting things to say. Little children holding dolls and talking about their impressions of female development, or talking about possible perceived abuses of sexism, had the only interesting things to say. And they were few and far between. You don't want to see what these women want to show you.

A really well done documentary - interspersed with the interview subjects' comments, there are some great clips from old films and cartoons. It's a really enjoyable documentary - I highly recommend it.

From a male point of view, it was interesting to see women of different ages, ethnic backgrounds etc talk about a part of their anatomy that for most men remain an enigma and somewhat fascinating, but to women are an essential part of who they are as women and yet defines their femininity and womanhood. The interviewees include two mother-daughter combinations, a 400 pound comedienne and a male-female transexual. One woman had had a mastectomy and had only one breast and she felt a great sense of loss or not being complete. I think the documentary will be of interest to both men and women, and men especially can gain a better understanding about how women (especially women close to them) in general see and define themselves, through accepting their breasts and therefore their own body image. Topics such as size, shape of their breasts things they are satisfied and dissatisfied with about their breasts are discussed. Because of the low budget for making this the majority of the program was the women speaking directly to the camera, while remaining topless. It was interesting to see the early clips shot probably in the fifties, to show how much the image of women (through types of bras they wore etc) has changed over the years.

I never expected to watch a film about women's breasts and not be sexually aroused. I was not because this is not a film about sex. It's explores how women feel about their breasts or the trauma of a mastectomy. Unlike the film about dicks, with the men for the most part keeping theirs out of sight, the majority of women interviewed were quite comfortable showing their breasts for the camera. Nothing erotic at all. In one scene a wife says her husband allowed her to show most of her breasts except for her nipples. He told her she had to save at least some part of her breasts just for him to see.
In a heart-rendering and somewhat jolting image, a woman who had one of her breasts removed told of having deep feelings for a particular man but when she showed him her remaining breast---he recoiled and ended the relationship. So there she sat exposing her one breast. I had a bit of trouble at first looking at this beautiful woman with the one breast dangling and asked myself would I accept her as she is. I'm still not sure but I think I could. I concentrated on her lovely face and not the scar on her chest.
I highly, highly recommend that men watch this film and get to understand women better.
John