"INTRODUCING, SELMA BLAIR" // SXSW 2021
Selma Blair the actress needs no introduction. From performances in Cruel Intentions, Hellboy, The Sweetest Thing, Legally Blonde, Storytelling, even an episode of Friends! Selma has had quite a varied career. Yet Selma Blair the human being is ready to re-introduce herself in the new documentary INTRODUCING, SELMA BLAIR. In 2018, Selma was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and her life has changed dramatically since. The film is candid and raw, shining a light into Selma's everyday battle with MS and how her life has turned somewhat away from Hollywood and far more into activism.
"I never had the hunger to be the best actress I could be," Blair states to us. She thinks she would have that hunger now, though she's not exactly sure her career would restart in the same way. The film, directed by Rachel Fleit, captures a very intimate portrait of a woman who's still learning a lot about herself and her disease. Selma is funny and crass, sassy and sad. She has some very heavy baggage with her mother, which she openly speaks about. She's a very warm presence, inviting you in to see her pain and to help others understand MS in a way she didn't when she was first diagnosed. She wants people to feel less alone than she did and her blunt honesty and self-deprecating humor immediately makes the very heavy material easier to digest. She has a comfort dog that helps keep her at ease, yet there are moments where the stimuli of everything around us becomes too much for her and her voice stammers and studders, almost to a halt. She forces the words out saying, "This is what happens that I don't want people to see." The real Selma Blair is a fighter, fighting this debilitating disease, looking to continue to fight for both her and to have a future with her little boy Arthur.
We also follow Selma as she undergoes an experimental stem cell treatment, showing in detail the lead up to the treatment and the recovery. We see her live with MS day in and day out, never losing her sense of humor along the way. She even dresses up like Norma Desmond for one on camera interview, playfully showcasing her wicked sense of humor. She's out to show us exactly who she is: an unapologetic strong woman who's not hiding her cane or her disease from anyone. She wants to be an example, a voice to those who feel voiceless and along battling the same hills that she does each day. It's an inspiring and beautiful film, filled with tears, laughter and a whole lot of hope.
GRADE: A
DIRECTED BY Rachel Fleit FEATURING Selma Blair FEATURED AS PART OF THE 2021 SXSW FESTIVAL FOR MORE INFO: INTRODUCING, SELMA BLAIR