The Story of the Plastic-Surgery Reality Show Examined in ‘The Swan: Behind the Mirror’

But before that moment comes a deeply touching reunion between the swans. Though they talk constantly through group chats and Facebook groups, they live scattered across the United States and don’t often get to see each other in person. But Carr’s film granted them the opportunity to come together and reconnect over their shared experiences. Their simple joy in being with one another is a surprising moment of warmth in the film. The ladies cheer to “tits, teeth, and trauma,” and “to being enough.” 
This collective scene was essential, for Carr, to show audiences how an unexpected positive came from such a harrowing experience. Pulling it off was no small feat. “Most networks will say, ‘You get three characters. We cannot follow 12 different people,’” says Carr. “So I said, ‘Hey, if we’re doing this, I need to follow everybody. We all need to be interviewed, and then I need for them to come together and do a reunion.’ That is extremely expensive. I was not sure if it was going to be a yes, but that was my dream. And when your dream is realized as a documentarian or filmmaker of any kind, you feel extremely special.”