A Part of Me
2016 · 23m · Canada
Directed by André Roy
Genres: documentary
Tones: contemplative, tender
Three women aged 17, 30, and 60 who live with alopecia, along with Karène, share how losing their hair affects identity and confidence, challenging narrow standards of feminine beauty.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
A doc about alopecia and beauty standards feels like it should be one of those well-intentioned snoozes, but Roy's refusal to make this about inspiration-porn redemption—just letting women sit with contradiction and complexity—actually subverts the whole genre expectation.
Roy positions this within a lineage of essayistic portraiture that respects silence and duration; the formal choice to let three generations speak without resolution creates a considered meditation on identity that rewards formal attention and resists easy closure.
The specific decision to intercut across ages without narration or explanatory framework—trusting the viewer to hold three different relationships to the same loss simultaneously—is what transforms a potential PSA into something that actually lands emotionally.