INVISIBLE BEAUTY - Mark Reviews Movies

Invisible Beauty, Magnolia Pictures

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Review by Mark Dujsik | September 21, 2023

Bethann Hardison isn't a household name, but Invisible Beauty makes a good case that maybe she could and, perhaps, should be. A model and modeling agent, Hardison is the subject and co-director of this documentary about her decades-long career, which still going as strong as it can and has primarily become about activism.

That activism revolves around diversity in the field of modeling—from the runway to the advertising varieties. She knows about the importance of that, having had her own struggles and successes as a model during the late 1960s and the whole of the '70s.

Hardison was there as more Black women and other people of minority backgrounds started being featured with more frequency in fashion shows, in the pages of magazines, and in marketing. As an agent, she ensured that her client base was diverse, too, but then, the '90s came along. All of that hard work and the inclusive attitude of the fashion world seemed to disappear.

With his subject, co-director Frédéric Tcheng gives us a pretty thorough account of Hardison's professional life, but the somewhat fascinating thing about the filmmakers' approach is how much it involves other people—their stories, their challenges, their successes, their opinions, not only on Hardison, but also on the industry she worked in, helped to improve, and saw fall back into prejudiced habits. Some of them are more along the lines of household names, such as models Naomi Campbell and Tyson Beckford, as well as actors Tracee Ellis Ross, Zendaya, and Whoopi Goldberg.

Hardison had an impact on all of them—and more—in some way, and there's probably no better account of the quality and character of a person than to see and hear the sincerity of such laudatory descriptions and anecdotes from so many people. Hardison tells her own story, too, of course, since she's in the process of writing a memoir while filming is underway, but even her story is as much about other people as it is about herself.

She comes across as completely genuine, as well, and the film gets a lot of mileage from the verve of her personality. The stories are engaging as a snapshot of the fashion industry over the course of several decades, from the so-called Battle of Versailles Fashion Show in 1973 to the present day, as Hardison's championing of diversity in modeling has transferred to similar movements across society and culture. It's not all glowing, either, as Hardison's son, an actor, recalls how difficult it was and, in long stretches of absence, shows how tough it can be to live with and up to someone with as high expectations as his mother possesses.

Ultimately, Invisible Beauty is a thoughtful and passionate documentary about a thoughtful and passionate person, deserving of more attention and recognition for her work, accomplishments, and legacy. The film offers exactly that, and thanks to Hardison's presence and that of her peers, it's entertaining, too.

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