Real Women Have Curves

Ana finishes high school in Los Angeles wanting to go to university, and her family considers it unnecessary; she is expected to spend the summer working in her sister's small garment workshop. Her mother reminds her constantly about her weight and tells her she should marry. Patricia Cardoso does not build an escape story; the solidarity among the women in the workshop and Ana's reconciliation with her own body advance together. The most cited scene has the women stripping off in the heat and looking at each other's bodies. America Ferrera leads in her first film. It won the audience award at Sundance and became a reference point in American arguments about body image. Who it is for: viewers who like immigrant family stories and films about how bodies are seen. Who it is not for: anyone wanting resolution, since the family is never persuaded.