Documentary Review: 'Introducing Selma Blair'

Introducing Selma Blair is a work of raw, passionate honesty. It’s a revealing look at a disease that anyone who doesn’t suffer from it, wants to look away from. No looking away here however, as the famed star of Cruel Intentions and Legally Blonde pulls back the curtain and brings you inside the turbulent trial of a person with Multiple Sclerosis and all that that diagnosis entails, broad swaths of physical and emotional pain and a desperate search for hope amid the turmoil.

In 2018 Selma Blair revealed to the world that she had been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. If you don’t know, M.S can be quite difficult to diagnose and as Blair discusses in the documentary, for a long time she thought she suffered from a number of minor illnesses before finally seeing a specialist who was able to give her the real diagnosis. In the early months of her diagnosis, the disease progressed so quickly that she could hardly get out of bed. She suffered from severe muscle spasms and exhaustion that could keep her bedridden for days at a time.

Eventually, the right course of medications got Blair to a point where she could stand and walk but, as we see in an early scene in the movie, the exhaustion can be so extreme, so excruciating, that even talking for more than a few minutes could take the life out of her. It’s a powerful and gut-wrenching moment that director Rachel Fleit and Blair herself do not cut away from, preferring instead to give us a very intimate and up close look at the kind of suffering M.S is capable of.

From here begins another journey as Blair strives to find a new normal, a way to be there for her young son and deal with an illness that robs her of time and mobility. Blair and her son’s father are divorced but thankfully are on good enough terms that they share custody in a fashion that doesn’t seem to cause any undue stress, a major trigger for M.S. Watching Selma Blair work herself to complete exhaustion for a few normal moments of play with her son is yet another powerhouse example of the emotions at play in Introducing Selma Blair.

In the second act of Introducing Selma Blair we begin Selma’s journey toward a new treatment, one that could restore more mobility and energy to her. In fact, this stem cell therapy for Multiple Sclerosis has been so successful in some cases that you might not see any outward symptoms of the disease at all. However, as exciting as this treatment is, it’s also dangerous and carries the potential to take years off of Blair’s life. It could also be fatal if it doesn’t work so the stakes are immensely high here.

Thankfully, this is a documentary and in life we know that Selma Blair is still with us and if Instagram is any indication, she appears to be doing remarkably well. In fact, Blair has since the stem cell therapy gone back to work, taking on supporting roles in recent movies Dark Foe and After We Collided. Indeed, Selma Blair is giving hope to millions of people who suffer from M.S that life is still out there for them and that’s part of what makes Introducing Selma Blair so urgent and meaningful.

In laying bare her struggles, Selma Blair is shining a big bright light on a disease that for too many of us, lingers in the shadows. M.S is a terror and for many it’s a disease they never want to think about. Introducing Selma Blair is a gift to those who need light shined in this dark corner. It’s a beacon of hope, a symbol that if we look closer at M.S and those suffering from it, maybe there is a way we can help more people.

Stem Cell Therapy for M.S is controversial, many see it as dangerous or experimental. It’s also, for many, prohibitively expensive. A movie such as Introducing Selma Blair provides a window into this remarkable treatment and the attention that the documentary lavishes upon this treatment could potentially be a step forward in getting this treatment further into the mainstream and available to more people in need.

Introducing Selma Blair arrives in limited theatrical release from Discovery Films on October 15th and will debut on the Discovery Plus streaming app as of October 21st, 2021.