Precious is one of those films that you never want to watch. It’s not exactly a fun night’s entertainment to see an overweight girl get abused by her family. And the uncomfortable gut-punches keep coming, each blow made more painful by the flashes of her imagined world as a diva model serving to acutely highlight the horror of reality. In case you haven’t seen any trailers, or don’t know anything about this film, take this as a warning: Precious is far from easy viewing. In fact, this is probably the film’s greatest flaw. Whilst sometimes it is important to show up the social injustices in our apparently comfortable society, Precious does it in such a heavy handed manner it leaves the film feeling a little too… obvious. The several moments of a blank screen with just the noises to tell you what is going on, combined with frequent flashback moments of severe abuse mean that subtlety is hardly the aim here. It’s occasionally like having your senses assaulted, as if the director, Lee Daniels, is standing in the wings shouting ‘Look! This is SAD!!!!’ Last year’s The Soloist, whilst lacking the emotional punch of Precious, dealt with social inequality in a much more even-handed way.
Thankfully, saving Precious from being a totally miserable affair are a series of brilliant performances. Mo’Nique is the one that everyone is talking about, and she seems unstoppable on her way to win an Oscar. Yet that is probably because she is the most obviously ‘oscar’ performance in the whole thing. Her monologue at the end will undoubtedly be played over and over again come March 7th. But Precious should be remembered for introducing Gabourey Sidibe, who is brilliant in what could have been simply reduced to a victim role. The look in her eyes, her posture, her voice: it all means that she is entirely believable, and that we smile when she smiles, and cry when she cries. Sadly Sandra Bullock already has a space on her mantelpiece spared for her inevitable Oscar, yet Sidibe deserves it more.
Yet perhaps the most plaudits should go to the least expected recipient. Mariah Carey only has a small role, yet she makes the most of it, and is so good that maybe the film world can let her forget that she was ever in Glitter. As Precious tells her ‘You can’t deal with this,’ we believe her entirely, and that is all thanks to Carey’s stunning, selfless performance.
So in short, Precious is a film where some great actresses deliver performances that are better than the film itself. It isn’t deserving of all the hype surrounding it, but most films rarely do. You may also leave wondering what the point of it all was.
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