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Beauties of the Night
Cancer and Society
Documentary Beauties of the Night Wanda Seux, a 66-year-old former Latin American showgirl, makes an impassioned speech directly to the camera in Bellas de las Noches (Beauties of the Night), a documentary following five former showgirls. Wanda appears thirty minutes into the documentary, where we see her in a modest apartment, full of dogs she’s adopted. “This is the life of Wanda Seux,” she says, gesturing to the bare concrete yard where she keeps her dogs. “But this is how I like it…now, as long as God gives me enough to eat, enough for my dogs, enough for my medicines, that’s all I need.” Yet this acceptance is set in opposition to the wishes of Wanda and several of the other women who admit to missing the spotlight. “Give me work! I want to earn money! I want to do things,” she cries, after going through chemotherapy and losing her hair, something she admits she feared. At one point, we see her in full glitter make-up and sequins, her just-regrown hair, short, blonde, and spiky, yet looking fantastic. She says to her friend, another former showgirl whose show name is Princess Yamal, “I forgot to take all my pills because we went to put the dog to sleep…I wasn’t in my right mind.” The scene cuts to Wanda at the vet’s, petting her dog, singing and crying as it quietly succumbs to the shot that is putting it to sleep. Here, with no make-up, sequins or glitter, her raw vulnerability is extremely moving. This is the power of Bellas de las Noches: it contrasts these women, in their 60s, most with noticeable plastic surgery and Botox, with footage of their younger selves. But the real contrast is the complexity of who they are presently, both www.thelancet.com/oncology Vol 18 May 2017
onstage and off. Sometimes, they are shown in full costumes, singing and performing. Sometimes, they are at home, in workout clothes or reading glasses, at prayer or with tears of nostalgia. They are very real, vulnerable, and likeable. “We were like goddesses. You have one pair of eyes, facing millions of eyes out there. Imagine how strong you have to be, the energy you need, the mastery you need to keep them all under your spell,” describes Yamal. We see how these women have redirected their power and, in some cases, how they channel the persistent need for an audience. Another showgirl, Rossy, explains: “The loneliness seems to crush you. The loneliness is overwhelming. I read, I nurture myself, I feed my spirit, to shake off the sorrow.” All of them continue to work hard, to stay fit, but also to stay joyful. One woman, Olga, began performing not as a showgirl but as a violinist alongside her father when she was only 12 years old. But, she explains, “The impresarios began to say, wear your hair like that; wear these clothes…” and she said, “If I give in to your demands, let’s create
a character.” For some of the women, like Wanda, Olga, and Yamal, their show performance is a character. But for some, like Rossy and Lyn May, it seems to be absolutely who they are, and who they prefer to be. Wanda dramatically confronts this contrast at a celebration for the unveiling of her star on Mexico’s Walk of Fame. As the announcer introduces her as “An icon among showgirls, in Latin America, and the world,” she pulls off her long blonde wig, showing her barely-regrown, chemo-affected hair, saying, “I want to introduce you to somebody.” Later, with her hair long again, dancing at home on her 66th birthday, Wanda seems strong but also sad, admitting that she wants to work, but is no longer asked to. Bellas de las Noches is a moving insight into what happens to women who were once in the spotlight for their skill as singers and dancers, but also, unabashedly, for their youthful bodies. This is, inevitably, a memento mori. But as Yamal says, “Who you are inside never changes. Your skin gets wrinkled, not your soul.”
Beauties of the Night (Bellas de Noche) Directed by Maria Jose Cuevas 2017, 1h 32 min
Kelley Swain
Maria Jose Cuevas
“I am a person who has to fight every single day to live, damn it!”
Wanda Seux in Beauties of the Night
585
Documentary Beauties of the Night Wanda Seux, a 66-year-old former Latin American showgirl, makes an impassioned speech directly to the camera in Bellas de las Noches (Beauties of the Night), a documentary following five former showgirls. Wanda appears thirty minutes into the documentary, where we see her in a modest apartment, full of dogs she’s adopted. “This is the life of Wanda Seux,” she says, gesturing to the bare concrete yard where she keeps her dogs. “But this is how I like it…now, as long as God gives me enough to eat, enough for my dogs, enough for my medicines, that’s all I need.” Yet this acceptance is set in opposition to the wishes of Wanda and several of the other women who admit to missing the spotlight. “Give me work! I want to earn money! I want to do things,” she cries, after going through chemotherapy and losing her hair, something she admits she feared. At one point, we see her in full glitter make-up and sequins, her just-regrown hair, short, blonde, and spiky, yet looking fantastic. She says to her friend, another former showgirl whose show name is Princess Yamal, “I forgot to take all my pills because we went to put the dog to sleep…I wasn’t in my right mind.” The scene cuts to Wanda at the vet’s, petting her dog, singing and crying as it quietly succumbs to the shot that is putting it to sleep. Here, with no make-up, sequins or glitter, her raw vulnerability is extremely moving. This is the power of Bellas de las Noches: it contrasts these women, in their 60s, most with noticeable plastic surgery and Botox, with footage of their younger selves. But the real contrast is the complexity of who they are presently, both www.thelancet.com/oncology Vol 18 May 2017
onstage and off. Sometimes, they are shown in full costumes, singing and performing. Sometimes, they are at home, in workout clothes or reading glasses, at prayer or with tears of nostalgia. They are very real, vulnerable, and likeable. “We were like goddesses. You have one pair of eyes, facing millions of eyes out there. Imagine how strong you have to be, the energy you need, the mastery you need to keep them all under your spell,” describes Yamal. We see how these women have redirected their power and, in some cases, how they channel the persistent need for an audience. Another showgirl, Rossy, explains: “The loneliness seems to crush you. The loneliness is overwhelming. I read, I nurture myself, I feed my spirit, to shake off the sorrow.” All of them continue to work hard, to stay fit, but also to stay joyful. One woman, Olga, began performing not as a showgirl but as a violinist alongside her father when she was only 12 years old. But, she explains, “The impresarios began to say, wear your hair like that; wear these clothes…” and she said, “If I give in to your demands, let’s create
a character.” For some of the women, like Wanda, Olga, and Yamal, their show performance is a character. But for some, like Rossy and Lyn May, it seems to be absolutely who they are, and who they prefer to be. Wanda dramatically confronts this contrast at a celebration for the unveiling of her star on Mexico’s Walk of Fame. As the announcer introduces her as “An icon among showgirls, in Latin America, and the world,” she pulls off her long blonde wig, showing her barely-regrown, chemo-affected hair, saying, “I want to introduce you to somebody.” Later, with her hair long again, dancing at home on her 66th birthday, Wanda seems strong but also sad, admitting that she wants to work, but is no longer asked to. Bellas de las Noches is a moving insight into what happens to women who were once in the spotlight for their skill as singers and dancers, but also, unabashedly, for their youthful bodies. This is, inevitably, a memento mori. But as Yamal says, “Who you are inside never changes. Your skin gets wrinkled, not your soul.”
Beauties of the Night (Bellas de Noche) Directed by Maria Jose Cuevas 2017, 1h 32 min
Kelley Swain
Maria Jose Cuevas
“I am a person who has to fight every single day to live, damn it!”
Wanda Seux in Beauties of the Night
585