Andy Spitz
South Africa | 2004 | 48 min
Languages : English, x-ses
Subtitles : English, French
The camera brings us into the world of Ivy, owner of a beauty salon where clients come to enjoy the treatments offered by this beautician with a very lively personality. But there is so much more to it than simple beauty treatments: the salon is a venue for intimate discussion in which she tackles all kinds of subject with her clients, from sexuality to questions of power. These confidences shared between a manicure and a waxing, these exchanges, which are both funny and meaningful, enable us to discover many aspects that characterise contemporary South African society and, above all, the questions that mark a country still undergoing far-reaching changes since the end of the apartheid. By talking about segregation or security issues, we grasp the complexity of South Africa and the questions of its inhabitants. But Ivy’s salon is also a special place where we learn, with tenderness and complicity, of the experience of this remarkable woman who has gone through personal struggles and overcome thanks to her shinning inner strength.
Jasmin Basic