Girl Model (2011)

Directed by: David Redmon, Ashley Sabin | 78 minutes | documentary

It is the ultimate dream for many teenage girls: to become a fashion model. The same goes for 13-year-old Nadya. Born and raised in gray Siberia where there are very few opportunities for a bright future, she only dreams of one thing and that is a career as a fashion model. Encouraged by her parents, who hope a rich daughter can end their poor existence, the scrawny Russian blonde goes one day after another for model selection days in hopes of being considered good enough for a contract. Model scout Ashley sees something in Nadya and offers her the chance to start a career in Japan.

In the documentary ‘Girl Model’ we follow Nadya during her stay in Japan and we are treated to a rather shocking look behind the scenes of the modeling world. This already starts in the opening scene, in which on a selection day the young girls are mercilessly beaten up by various scouts. David Redmon and Ashley Sabin, the makers of this documentary, have consciously chosen to follow a young girl far from home in this harsh world and this choice works out very well.

It is not difficult to muster sympathy for little Nadya. She is on her own, in a foreign country, far from home and in fact she has to cope and is completely at the mercy of the client, the model agency ‘Switch’ in this case. It is because of this that the issues that ‘Girl Model’ raises, such as the many dubious contracts and countless promises that are not kept, have just that little bit more impact on the viewer. For example, poor Nadya doesn’t really have a cent to spend during her stay in Tokyo and the condition of the apartment she shares with another girl is nothing to write home about.

In addition to Nadya, ‘Girl Model’ also follows the life of model scout Ashley, a former fashion model who now works for Switch and as a scout has her eye on Nadya, among others. Ashley knows exactly what the young girls are going through, she was also roped in as a model at a young age. It is partly because of this that it is a bit strange that the now almost 30-year-old Ashley, apparently without major ethical objections and purely out of self-interest, continues to snare girls. This while she herself indicates that she has experienced modeling as hell. In Ashley, the creators have found the perfect example of how selfish the modeling world has been.

‘Girl Model’ is a successful documentary. It shows how the young girls, who are often pushed by their poor parents to enter the modeling world, find themselves stuck once they have signed their first contract. Every year countless girls like Nadya are lured into this dark and harsh world with false promises. For many girls a career as a model may be a dream, ‘Girl Model’ shows that few girls actually succeed. An inch too wide around the hips or an ounce of fat too much and the contract is unceremoniously torn apart and the dream shattered. It is this harsh reality that ‘Girl Model’ tries to impress upon the viewer, and it succeeds in doing so with gusto.