{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}} {{Use Canadian English|date=July 2020}} {{Infobox television | image = | image_upright = | image_alt = | caption = | genre = Drama | alt_name = | based_on = | screenplay = {{Plainlist| *Janet Kranz, *Martin Langer<ref name="Mehes">{{cite journal |last1=Mehes |first1=Del |last2=Dorland |first2=Michael |title=Slim Obsession |journal=Cinema Canada |date=May 1983 |page=46 |url=http://cinemacanada.athabascau.ca/index.php/cinema/article/viewFile/1587/1650 |access-date=4 July 2020}}</ref> }} | story = | director = Donald Shebib | starring = {{Plainlist| *Susan Wright, *Paul Kelman, *Lindsay Connell, *Michael J. Reynolds *C. Kerry Keane, *Lynda Mason Green, *Sharon Dyer<ref name="Mehes" /> }} | narrator = | music = {{Plainlist| *Glenn Morley *Lawrence Shragge }} | country = Canada | language = English | num_episodes = | producer = Bonita Seigel<ref name="Mehes" /> | executive_producer = Sig Gerber<ref name="Mehes" /> | editor = Myrtle Virgo<ref name="Mehes" /> | cinematography = Vic Sarin<ref name="Mehes" /> | runtime = 60 minutes<ref name="Mehes" /> | company = CBC | budget = | network = CBC Television | released = {{Start date|1984|03|11}} }}
'''''Slim Obsession''''' is a 1984 Canadian short drama television film directed by Donald Shebib and produced by Bonita Seigel and Sig Gerber,<ref name="Mehes" /> about a small-town school teacher (Susan Wright), who, after moving to Toronto, begins to diet and exercise to excess, almost destroying her marriage and her own physical and mental health. The film was made for the anthology series ''For the Record'' and garnered an award at the Columbus International Film Festival. Wright won an ACTRA for her performance in 1985.
==Synopsis== Liz (Susan Wright) is a small town school teacher who, after moving to Toronto, begins to feel she must lose weight in order to be accepted by a society that judges women by their figures. She becomes obsessed with dieting and exercise to the detriment of her physical health and emotional well-being.
==Themes== Richard Collins describes ''Slim Obsession'' as the depiction of the experience and consequences of a "general social problem", namely the "attempt to conform to the prescribed norm of female beauty", a goal which is not only self-defeating but self-destructive.<ref name="Collins">{{cite book |last1=Collins |first1=Richard |title=Culture, Communication and National Identity: The Case of Canadian Television |date=1990 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=0802027334 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DNjlDQAAQBAJ&q=%22slim+obsession%22&pg=PT461 |access-date=4 July 2020 |chapter=National culture; or, Where is here?}}</ref> Collins relates this theme to a more general or universal theme of control, "the general human project of achieving command over the world" and notes that the film "displays a number of Shebib's authorial markings" in that his films are often about loners.<ref name="Collins" />
==Production== ===Background=== Sig Gerber took over as executive producer of ''For the Record'' in 1983, in its eighth season.<ref name="Henley">{{cite journal |last1=Henley |first1=Gail |title=On the record: ''For the Record'''s 10 distinctive years. |journal=Cinema Canada |issue=117 |date=April 1985 |pages=18–21 |url=http://cinemacanada.athabascau.ca/index.php/cinema/article/download/2808/2851. |access-date=4 July 2020}}</ref> Like his predecessors, he emphasised the role of the series as an honest look at problems in Canadian society.<ref name="Collins" /> Gail Henley remarked in 1985 that ''For the Record'' dramas were "information laden" when compared to their more emotional American counterparts and emphasises the importance of research and documentation for the series.<ref name="Henley" />
''Slim Obsession'' was one of twelve dramas made about women by the series,<ref name="Collins" /> and the second made by Donald Shebib, after ''By Reason of Insanity'' (1982).<ref name="Henley" />
===Filming=== ''Slim Obsession'' was filmed in Toronto, which is also, as Richard Collins notes, "unmistakably" the story's setting, as neither flags nor license plates were obscured.<ref name="Collins" /> Principal photography was scheduled for 20 April through 6 May 1983.<ref name="Mehes" />
==Release and reception== ''Slim Obsession'' was first broadcast on 11 March 1984 and was shown the same year at the Columbus International Film Festival.<ref name="JS">{{cite web |title=For The Record "Slim Obsession" TV Series Anthology Episode |url=http://www.jessicasteen.net/filmography.html |website=jessicasteen.net |access-date=4 July 2020}}</ref>
===Distribution=== The film was sold to overseas markets in Germany, Bermuda, Bahamas, Trinidad, Norway, Finland, and Yugoslavia.<ref name="Henley" />
===Critical response=== Richard Collins calls ''Slim Obsession'' a "finely produced, modest drama" that transcends "both naturalistic concentration on an individual history and abstract sociological discourse about a big social problem." Shebib's film perfectly exemplifies the Chabrolian "little subject" where an extensive representation is created out of a relatively modest subject.<ref name="Collins" />
===Accolades=== *Columbus International Film Festival, Chris Bronze Plaque, 1984<ref name="Henley" /> *ACTRA Award, Best Actress (Susan Wright), 1985<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Turbide |first1=Diane |title=Labors of Love |journal=Maclean's |date=13 January 1992 |url=https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1992/1/13/labors-of-love |access-date=4 July 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Susan Wright |url=http://www.canadiantheatre.com/dict.pl?term=Wright%2C%20Susan |website=Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia |access-date=4 July 2020}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *''[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1108220/ Slim Obsession]'' on IMDb
{{Donald Shebib}}
Category:1984 drama films Category:1984 films Category:Canadian drama films Category:Films directed by Donald Shebib Category:Films about eating disorders Category:1984 Canadian films