Beyond the Beauty Standards

Special Double Review of Recha Jungmann's Renate 

By Christina Schultz and Romina Leiding 

It’s been a few months since the fabulous Frankfurter Frauen Film Tage and I don’t know about you, but I certainly miss attending the film screenings, listening to the inspiring talks, meeting the incredible organizers, guests and attendees and, perhaps most importantly, being included in a supportive community of film scholars, feminists and human rights activists. So I thought it only right to post a review of one of the films I saw at the festival that made a lasting impression on me; but this time, in the true spirit of the feminist movement - solidarity, empowerment, encouragement - this is not only my review, but a double review with one of the festival assistants, Romina Leiding, who I had the pleasure of getting to know during the festival.

We watched the film together in the theater, discussed it quite passionately after the screening, expressed interest in writing a double review and voilà!

Before reading our reviews, meet Romina...

Romina Leiding is a board member of Kinophil [Cinephile], an organization dedicated to promoting and preserving film culture. Her main interests are the history of film and the societal aspect of film. Since receiving her degree in Germanic Studies and History at the University of Duisburg-Essen, she has been working freelance as an assistant director, for various film festivals (like Remake. Frankfurter Frauen Film Tage) and educational trips.
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We would like to warmly welcome her to our FemFilmFam! 

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Christina’s Review of Renate

Renate is a short, intimate documentary of a young girl in love. That might sound harmless, and perhaps even slightly cliche, but the short film is anything but. Because of the time it was made (1968), the man she is in love with (the frontman of a famous rock band from England), the editing choices and the important role music plays, the film comes across more like a stream-of-consciousness, psychedelic music video. Again, this might sound like a rather groovy cinematic experience, but director Recha Jungmann includes some not-so-groovy images of the eponymous girl. To be more precise, the film made the audience members (myself and Romina included) uncomfortable due to the almost-pornographic close ups of 13-year-old Renate.

The camera quite literally caresses Renate’s corpulent prepubescent body and nothing is off limits. We see every part of her: from the scar on her knee, to her uneven teeth, to her folds of flesh, to her bouncing breasts and even her crotch. Perhaps it is meant to come across as charming and refreshingly real to audiences accustomed to seeing impeccably groomed, thin and attractive actresses like Charlotte Rampling, Audrey Hepburn, Mia Farrow and the like - a precursor to the body positivity movement?* - but it is hard not to feel uneasy as the images (and her breasts) bounce along. If I were Renate watching the film of my teenage self as an adult, I would be positively horrified. I was no Aphrodite myself and the mere thought of that kind of unabashed display of my body at age 13 is enough to make my body at age 33 shudder.

Therein might lie the genius of the film, however. Images like the ones seen in Renate are generally hidden because we are ashamed of them, unwilling to acknowledge that many, if not most bodies, including our own, are far from perfect. Instead of embracing our "imperfectness" and admitting that the beauty standards are harmful, we cover ourselves up, we buy pills, join gyms, drink shakes or even starve ourselves to try to be the someone we feel we need to be. The images in Jungmann’s film thus forces a confrontation with the self. Since our eyes have been trained to see slim, elegant, adult women on the screen, we cannot seem to hide our disgust when faced with the Renates of the world. But the Renates of the world are women like you and me: not a size zero with flawless skin, perfectly manicured nails and makeup and hair that is on fleek all day every day. And lest someone think I am skinny shaming, which for the record I am not, I want to clearly state that I am simply advocating for the fact that there are so many ways to define beautiful.

Renate the film, as a symbol for the trials and tribulations of womanhood, and Renate the physical subject of the film, painfully remind us that even chubby, pimply, awkward pubescents girls are beautiful and deserve to be seen. And what is more beautiful than that?

Heartthrob and rock star Roger Daltrey circa late 60s (Pinterest)

Romina's Review of Renate

Renate is Frankfurt filmmaker Recha Jungmann’s first work in which she filmed her son’s nanny with a standard 8mm camera. ​

Recha Jungmann (© Tabita Cargnel)

The viewer follows the camera’s gaze as it caresses the eponymous 13-year-old girl’s body like a lover, emphasizing her natural beauty by documenting every roll of fat on her stomach or every scar on her knee via meticulous editing and montage. The images are sexualized, without being pornographic, however. The film is somehow able to test the boundaries without overstepping them. But the 12-minute film is still highly puzzling, showing a 13-year-old girl in a way that makes the viewer ask: Can an underage girl be shown in this way?

Why? Mainly because of the (confusingly) playful way the pubescent female body eroticized. For example, Renate runs across a field sans bra, her ample bosom bouncing up and down. She lounges about, strikes poses and changes in front of the camera. The camera is deliberate, capturing highly intimate moments without being indiscrete. The viewer becomes a voyeur, observing the girl’s thighs, her stomach, back, eyes, nose, the lascivious mouth. Fascination and bewilderment, the archetypical features of curiosity according to Hungarian philosopher Georg Lukács, leave the viewer hanging on to the images. On the one side, the viewer is attracted to the imagery, on the other side outraged by the eroticization. From today’s perspective, the indignation one feels is so strong that one has to ask the question how the film would have been perceived during the 1960s, a time of sexual emancipation. This does not mean, however, that all of a sudden society accepted or underwent this turn. But parts of the population thought and lived more freely. Watching Renate today, the question of taboo immediately arises. Renate therefore gains an additional meaning that was unforeseen at the time of its making.

Yet Renate is still just a 13-year-old girl, as the popular media in the short film emphasizes. She cuddles and kisses a poster of Roger Daltrey and even reads a love letter she wrote to him in English. This part of the film, which exposes the viewer’s own teenage phase, is just as natural as the previous depiction of the body. However, the reference to popular media brings a new component when analyzing the film. Society, and in particular the vulnerable teenager, is bombarded with images of the rich and beautiful from film and television. In their infatuation for certain people, poses and styles, they naturally parody the society in which they live. Yet the teenagers’ exaggerated imitation of their idols appears comical or even embarrassing. Thus society as a whole is in need of some serious self-reflection.

Recha Jungmann said this film was not originally intended to be shown to audiences. This would explain the private and intimate nature captured in the film, as well as the home movie format of 8mm. It was thus coincidence that Renate was shown at a festival, where it was well received. All the observations here are simply interpretations, you can either take them or leave them. Recha Jungmann herself explained that she wanted to show the beauty of a girl's body that did not correspond to beauty standards and yet is fully aesthetic. The question still remains if a minor can be shown in this way. This is a point of contention that apparently has no resolution. But Recha Jungmann created her own resolution.