2025 Student Academy Award Winners Series Part 11: Without Perfection

Without Perfection, dir. Vega Moltke-Leth

Historically, women have suffered immensely from societal pressure upon them. Each century represented a different degree of expectations, ranging from the necessity of raising children as their sole function to the pursuit of immaculate visual beauty as a means of aesthetic appeal. Therefore, the late-stage capitalism increased the pressure and the beauty patterns, influenced by social media and the urging of advertisement. The goal post for the female appearance constantly shifts, according to the current fashion trends and the necessity of the beauty industry to profit. It is an abrupt and brutal demand that requires tons of mental preparation and self-esteem to prevent them from collapsing emotionally. 

In Without Perfection, the Danish director, Vega Moltke-Leth, approaches female insecurity through a non-orthodox proposition. Instead of a conventional narrative film about the topic, she presents a kaleidoscopic structure of women and how they feel towards the pressure aimed at them. In the first frame, a young woman is drinking in a pub. She looks at the camera and reflects on the multitude of societal coercions crystallized in gender dynamics. The sole characteristic of a conventional film is the voice-over, which translates the internalized sentiments of those subjects. Different women set in varied scenarios, experiencing an overall pressure that affects them all in multiple moments. Thus, Mathilde Wedell Wedellsborg is the voice of those women who are in front of a mirror, drinking in a pub, in the office, and in an intimate sexual moment with a partner. Yet, the narration is the textual element that complements the portrayed actions. 

In this sense, the cinematography by Albert Stenum is an essential to impart a visual cohesion to the described despair. Consequently, the cameras complete a half-circular movement, which the editing collages with the different scenarios, emulating a collective outrage; a communal sentiment of abuse, pressure, and overwhelming expectations. Arguably, the visual inventiveness of Stenum's camerawork and Moltke-Leth's directing creates a film that transcends the categorization between experimental and conventional works. Factually, it is not a usual story with the Aristotelian structure of acts that explores a linear journey. Neither is it an experimental film like Deren's or Benning's, but it utilizes the visual means to explore beyond the traditional filmmaking. 

Moltke-Leth focuses on using the imagery to discuss the despair of a woman towards the weight scale, dreaming of an exponential weight loss that does not correspond to a health outcome. At another moment, we see a woman having sex and evidently not having pleasure with it, exposing the sexual act as a manner of engagement with the man, focusing on him, and forgetting about her desires. Hence, the various moments of this film paint a holistic canvas, questioning the status quo and portraying a movement against the particular pattern that society imposes on women. 

Ultimately, Vega Moltke-Leth uses the non-traditional structure to narrate diverse episodes in a woman's life regarding society's look at them. Without Perfection is a winner of the Alternative/Experimental category of the 2025 Student Academy Awards. Vega Moltke-Leth is an alum of the University of Copenhagen, which earned its first SAA honour ever.

Review by: Pedro Lima