User Reviews

Quite a beautiful documentary, talks about the peak and fall of the figure of Vedettes in Mexico. This kind of artists of the night were women that made variety shows full of extravaganza, glitter, jewels and feathers, were the queens of the night. This documentary manages to humanize those women without making us feel pity about their situation, and have totally change my mind and the image of them, the one that i grew with. Maria Jose Cuvas (it's director) takes us in a very intimate journey into the current state of this five artists, and into their past. She addresses a distinctive figure of popular culture of the 60's and 80's and their fall. Lyn May, Olga Breeskin, Rossy Mendoza, La Princesa Yamal and Wanda Seux came back.

The documentary itself was artfully done: pacing, script and photography are absolutely on point. The five historical vedettes themselves are interesting people, each one with her sad or happy backstory. Even so I couldn't really fully enjoy this documentary because it seemed to be a little pointless: in the end all we have is a series of interviews and snippet of daily lives without a real purpose. Mexican viewers will probably feel more involved

«Bellas de noche» is a documentary that becomes painful to the eye and not because it reflects how old age and the physical alterations that these showgirls inflicted upon themselves have left them as little more than human wrecks. It is painful because it shows how five women were trafficked, abused, exploited and abused by their male counterparts: Princesa Yamal, Wanda Seux, Rossy Mendoza, Olga Breeskin and Lyn May. Whether they are aware of the facts or not does not affect the equation, but in the cases of those who do know what they were subjected to, their stories reach the level of tragedy. Perhaps the less exciting cases of the film are the stories of Lyn May, a freak of few contrasts, too frivolous, banal and sadly less informed, to become attractive and even to take her seriously; and Olga Breeskin, who took the always thorny path of religion as a lifeline, while her appearance suggests other intentions. Breeskin is the only one who openly alludes to alcoholism, drug addiction and sexual promiscuity, but apparently she always counted on the favor of her admirers, who have allowed her to continue her "spiritual" preaching with her trademark violin and under 20 kilos of makeup. In contrast, Rossy Mendoza and, above all, southern Wanda Seux and Princesa Yamal are women who went through a harder road of marketing their images, in the margins of prostitution, who faced the violation of their right to a fair trial, who went to jail, suffered diseases and became impoverished, without the celebrity of the others, who feel more "revered" than used by all the men who passed through their lives and trampled them. Mendoza shows footage where she is profusely groped by male cast members, in titillating movies, too hypocritical to show what they really wanted: hard core pornography. Mendoza chose literature as a kind of "route of expiatio"n and published her memories and reflections. Then there is the Paraguayan Wanda Seux, a fascinating character who, at almost 70 years old, had a highly appreciable, well-modulated singing voice, and dedicated herself to the protection of animals. However, the one that really seems to have reached a greater fullness in her older adult life is the Argentinian Princesa Yamal, who today is at peace with her past life, her triumphs and setbacks. Director María José Cuevas has tried to exalt aspects of these five lives by talking about their "empowerment" as women. Perhaps it would be more opportune to talk about their willpower and tenacity, than to speak about facts that suggest that they "empowered" themselves of little, though valuable: their own self-esteem. However, Cuevas knew how to harmonize the five contrasting and varied biographies, in a moving, attractive and quite hard product, that remains as testimony of an era and a profession that no longer manifests itself with these ambiguous characteristics, in the limit of the permissible and the forbidden. Highly recommended. Bravo.

Lo mejor es la introducción, de ahí en fuera todo es plano, sin emociones ni nada.

The best thing is the intro. Everything is flat, without emotion or anything.