MovieChat Forums > The Sessions (2012) Discussion > What has happened to Helen Hunts face?

What has happened to Helen Hunts face?

posted 12 years ago by jack000-3
66 replies | jump to latest

I mean, she must be 49, 50 by now and it looks like someone has put their knee on the back of her head, grabbed her ears and pulled with all their might! Is it just me or is this really obvious? I think permanently surprised is an understatement. It is a real shame when this happens to celebrities as I feel that it affects their ability to act to their full ability and makes them unable to properly convey emotion. In a film like this where a roller-coaster of emotion is the key to the films success and more importantly the (positive) reaction of the audience, I think it is not only a waste of money on her part but a waste of talent. Discuss :p

[–] jeffyoung1 12 years ago

Almost every occupation carries its own special tools that the practitioner must be adept with and more, keep those tools servicable and usable. In the dramatic arts, the practitioner's tools are their faces and bodies. For a professional dancer, both the face and the body must be kept in good physical condition and appearance. For an actor and actress, typically their face is the most important while the body comes in second and also depending upon the type of movies. Unless one is contemplating playing roles of elderly people, the actors' faces need to be kept with some modicrum of attractivenss and appeal. That is why so many actors and actresses feel compelled to undertake at least some cosmetic surgery to repair wrinkles and skin sags and surface blemishes, imperfections. The trick is not overdoing it because if an actor over does it, the progression is to start looking Asian (muaahhh!), then start looking like a store mannequin, then finally like some scary, feline-looking extraterrestrial.

[–] malarson2 12 years ago

I think Helen Hunt comes from the same unfortunate group of women - fellow actresses such as Nicole Kidman and Madeline Stowe - who just started to look a little more mature as Botox just so happened to be popular. It's a sad group because the backlash soon started towards Botox in Hollywood and leading ladies stopped ruining their true 'acting asset'. Then they stopped but the damage was done. They - Helen Hunt included - all just a little 'off'...

[–] bwalright 12 years ago

She's way too skinny, if she would gain weight it would go to her face!

[–] farcpr 12 years ago

I thought she was just lovely. With a strikingly beautiful body.

[–] motheroftwoprinces 12 years ago

She looks much better in this movie than in Soul Surfer a couple of years ago.
She is probably like Jamie Lee Curtis and myself. Comfortable in their own skin with their own pace of agin gracefully.

[–] verdie 12 years ago

It's a natural outgrowth of the industry's insistence on rail-thin actresses. That kind of extreme leanness makes the skin very thin and prone to wrinkling, so that the actress *must* undergo cosmetic surgery if she's not to look many years older than she is. (A late-life example would be the magnificent Maggie Smith, who is 78 but looks older because she is very slender and has left her face alone.)

I'm 57 and have no wrinkles except a small crease between my eyebrows - but I'm also 40 or 50 pounds overweight, and the excess subcutaneous fat prevents them. You don't see this sort of facial weirdness on, say, Kathy Bates or Aida Turturro, but you do on Helen Hunt, Nicole Kidman, Holly Hunter et al. So, if we want to look at over-40 women, we get to choose: plumper actresses with natural faces, or ultra-slim ones that look like their faces have been tightened like drums.

[–] Agamemnon7 12 years ago

She does all these nude scenes in this film, and you're only commenting on her face? Well, well! I was amazed by the great shape her body is in. The only thing that looks wrong with her face is her enormous teeth, which looks like the result of excessive bonding. She didn't have those teeth back in her TV starring days, did she?

[–] mattack 12 years ago

I think this is sort of a rude conversation, but there is something "weird" about her face.

I checked the movie page before seeing a free screening yesterday, so saw this thread (but didn't go into the thread until now).

I wondered what the deal was at first in the movie, but upon seeing her up close, she does look.. weird.. I can't explain it. It's not "old", and it doesn't seem to me like the other description of just having her face stretched taut.. that would describe Kris Kristofferson's look..

The rest of her body is fine, but there is something odd about her face… and I definitely never thought that on "Mad about You".. and again, it's NOT just an age thing.

[–] gortx 12 years ago

Two more possible explanations for the odd look:

1. The makeup was too heavily applied. Not sure if they were trying to hide wrinkles or just add texture, but it LOOKED like makeup. This was doubly distracting because of the naturalness of her body. It almost seemed like a different head and body.

2. The digital photography. Unless very carefully lit and shot, Digital can be VERY unforgiving. One of the aspects of digital is that it is sooooooooo sharp the camera picks up details one wouldn't normally notice if you were in the same room as a person. That is, unless you were literally face to face with that person AND shining a big bright light like they were being interrogated!

At least she never put in large fake breasts like many of her contemporaries.

Most importantly, it's a good performance by Ms.Hunt.

[–] adultblues 12 years ago

Helen hunt began to look weird years ago

I remember watching her in 'Pay It Forward' and she looked weird back then,

Obviously, to remain employ-able, actors and/or actresses have to go the extra mile

[–] C.S.Wood 12 years ago

2. The digital photography. Unless very carefully lit and shot, Digital can be VERY unforgiving. One of the aspects of digital is that it is sooooooooo sharp the camera picks up details one wouldn't normally notice if you were in the same room as a person. That is, unless you were literally face to face with that person AND shining a big bright light like they were being interrogated!

This is why I think they used a CGI to digitally smooth/soften her face. Check out Milla Jovovich's face in Resident Evil 3 and it looks like the same effect.

Don't try to cash in love, that check will always bounce.

[–] El_Guapo_Caballo 10 years ago

What is 'Excessive bonding' that turn a humans teeth into horse like teeth? Honest question.

[–] swinggold 12 years ago

"It's a natural outgrowth of the industry's insistence on rail-thin actresses. That kind of extreme leanness makes the skin very thin and prone to wrinkling, so that the actress *must* undergo cosmetic surgery if she's not to look many years older than she is. (A late-life example would be the magnificent Maggie Smith, who is 78 but looks older because she is very slender and has left her face alone.)

I'm 57 and have no wrinkles except a small crease between my eyebrows - but I'm also 40 or 50 pounds overweight, and the excess subcutaneous fat prevents them. You don't see this sort of facial weirdness on, say, Kathy Bates or Aida Turturro, but you do on Helen Hunt, Nicole Kidman, Holly Hunter et al. So, if we want to look at over-40 women, we get to choose: plumper actresses with natural faces, or ultra-slim ones that look like their faces have been tightened like drums. "

Exactly. That's what I came here to post. The pressure for actors/actresses to maintain a certain weight so they look slim on camera is overwhelming. And everybody's features will be affected especially older actresses. Had she gained wait to fill out her face so it wouldn't look so gray and ashen, her body would inflate and not be as desirable for the role. Because she won't undergo cosmetic surgery or injections this is what you have.

[–] froggyhaze 12 years ago

I think if she would gain just a few pounds, she would look much better

"Evil will always triuph because good is dumb"

[–] linguistinator 12 years ago

Evil will never triuMph, because it can't even spell. Talk about dumb!

[–] venusebony 12 years ago

Helen Hunt is amazing she's a fit lady almost 50 years old and her body would put those young chicks to shame. She looked fantastic in The Sessions.

[–] shayup 12 years ago

She looks magnificent! She looks 100x better than she did about 3-4 years ago when she did her film, Then She Found Me. At that time she looked about 20 years older and incredibly thin. In this film, she looks her age. There's nothing wrong with that. Her body is incredible, better than a 30 year old. However, her talent is what is most noticable on screen. She is a wonderful actress.

[–] gabriela-zayas 12 years ago

I agree: she looks much better now, and it surprises me to find so many criticisms on her looks. She is an actress, probably pushed by the industry to look younger. But a good actress, and we should'nt be discussing her looks but her acting. I find all this deeply unfair towards women.
In this movie she is wonderful; besides, I always like her voice.

[–] motheroftwoprinces 12 years ago

I was shocked to see her in Soul Surfer. I mean yeah, I realize people age but she didn't do it gracefully thats for sure. I am anxious to see this movie because I read we get to see her totally naked plus the pic I saw made her face look much better than in SS.

[–] mikeyflatley 12 years ago

1 werd: plastic surgery

Werd 2 ur mudda, bruddafcker

[–] TonyDood 12 years ago

I feel so bad commenting on this (but not bad enough not to comment on it)--that was the first thing that crossed my mind when I saw the trailer...looks like a fun movie but...(gulp) "W.h.h.t.H.H's F.?" So I looked at her imdb pix and the first one that came up you could see white whiskers on her chin (gulp 2).

God, it must be so awful to be an actor and have to be scrutinized by people like me, ha ha...

Nilbog! It's goblin spelled backwards! This is their kingdom!

[–] Whyldchld 11 years ago

"So I looked at her imdb pix and the first one that came up you could see white whiskers on her chin (gulp 2)."

Those are called lanugo hairs, not whiskers per se.

[–] popawoody 12 years ago

I have to wonder if you watched the same film as I did. Yes, she's 49 and an extraordinarily hot 49 at that.