"Perfect body" suffers from being a made-for-TV movie principally in the quality of the cinematography and in the realism of the gymnastics--these girls were nowhere near Olympic level, I'm told, though I am not really one to judge. Yet what "Perfect Body" lacks in this luster it more than makes up for in the quality of the writing and acting, and considering the primitivity of the shooting equipment, the cameraman captured the essence of each scene and character emotion very well. Amy Jo Johnson is more than convincing as a perfectionist suffering from anorexia nervosa (contrary to the description, the film does not once claim that she is bulimic and in fact she is more of a gorge-and- purge type anorectic than a true bulimic). The film's portrayal of the debilitating effects of nervous anxieties--and of the extreme difficulty that sufferers tend to have in getting or accepting help even when they know they need it and even want it, and of the resulting sense of isolation and fright of the sufferer and sense of helplessness of her entourage-- strikes a powerful chord. Definitely worth a couple of hours.
Review of Perfect Body
