Director Lee Daniels Tackles Beauty Ideals in 'Precious' - StyleList

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Director Lee Daniels Tackles Beauty Ideals in 'Precious'

Posted Nov 4th 2009 at 1:10PM by Dana Oliver (Subscribe to Dana Oliver's posts)

Filed under: Beauty, News, Celebrity Beauty

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Gabourey Sidibe makes her acting debut as "Precious." Courtesy of Lionsgate.

Porcelain skin, blonde hair, blue eyes and a rail-thin body.

That's who Claireece "Precious" Jones sees staring back at her in the mirror. But this "perfect" image is not a true reflection of the troubled, 16-year-old, African American girl.

"Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire" (Sundance Film Festival winner and Avon Voice of Courage award recipient) is the story of a young girl's journey to overcome emotional and physical abuse to discover self-worth. Director Lee Daniels combines gritty cinematography with explosive talent (Mo'Nique, Mariah Carey, Paula Patton and Lenny Kravitz) to probe the standards of beauty.

At a recent screening, the heart-wrenching reactions that roared through Loews Lincoln Center in New York City were a resounding indication of how tough it is for any woman to withstand the pressures that span from home to Hollywood.

But Daniels throws a mighty blow to society's ideal of perfection with Precious' ability to transcend a life of total chaos, and transform herself into a young woman who's comfortable with herself.

By the end of the film, the vision of the white woman is gone, and Precious sees her own face staring back from the mirror.

Oprah Winfrey, one of the executive producers of the film, told our sister site, BlackVoices, that the film gives "a voice to the Preciouses of the world."

"You've seen her on the subway, you seen her standing on the bus stop, you've seen her in the cold, you've seen her coming out of the drugstore, you see her in the grocery line, you see her pushing her babies down the street... and we don't see her. She becomes the invisible woman," Winfrey told BV. "They will no longer be invisible to me, because what this film does is raises the volume on all of their voices around the world. Raises the volume so that character gets heard, so that we understand the pain behind the backstory of the Preciouses of the word."

"Precious" opens in select theaters on November 6.

Tags: Gabourey Sidibe, GaboureySidibe, Lee Daniels, LeeDaniels, Mariah Carey, MariahCarey, MoNique, Oprah Winfrey, OprahWinfrey, precious, precious based on the novel push by sapphire, PreciousBasedOnTheNovelPushBySapphire, Sapphire

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