A woman’s world is torn apart in this emotional adaptation of the book Walk Beside Me by Christine Handy. Tricia Helfer takes the lead as Willow, a model who is on the cover of magazines around the world, and celebrated for her beauty. Behind the photo shoots, she manages a hectic home life, with the support of husband Khalil (Tarek Bishara). This is offset by the resentment of Isabel (Sara Boustany), her rebellious teenage daughter. Arguments about home life, work, and family issues come to a halt when Willow is diagnosed with breast cancer. With her outwardly ‘perfect’ life falling apart at the seams, Willow finds a new strength as she explores who she really can be.
It’s an emotive subject, but director Ziad H. Hamzeh never lets the story feel exploitative. Scenes in doctor’s surgeries and waiting rooms have an intensity to them that’s hard to ignore, while always underlining the strength it takes to go through such a journey. Also interesting is the film’s determination to follow all the characters in the story, showing Khalil’s struggle to support his wife and Isabel move between wanting her mother to leave forever and desperately needing her to be well. For a film that very well could have made these characters two dimensional, the key players’ voices are heard.
It does, however, lead to a rather packed movie, where the script often tells more than it shows. Every thought, action, and emotion are vocalised, resulting conversations that at times can feel unnatural. It also means some subplots feel vaguely underdeveloped, such as Willow’s connection with a young girl in the street, which has a third act a payoff that isn’t as impactful as it might have been. It also would have been nice to have seen the cultural tensions between Willow and her mother-in-law delved into a little bit more, instead of being another bullet point in the character’s list of obstacles.
The main fight, however, is never less than compelling, and that’s thanks to the work of Helfer in an energetic performance that runs the gamut of emotions. She allows herself to be incredibly vulnerable, displaying Willow’s anxiety, fear, and despair about what she is going through. It’s much more than serenely sitting in a chemotherapy chair, as poorer films might have portrayed her. There’s a sense of feeling everything she’s going through, and a lot of that is down to the commitment of the lead. Boustany is also surprising, throwing at the screen the whirlwind of pubescent emotions while still seeming sympathetic.
Hello Beautiful will be a difficult watch for anyone who has been touched by cancer in some way, but beneath certain narrative flaws there is an underlying message that is hard not to be inspired by. The film premiered at the 25th Beverly Hills Film Festival.
