In 1996, olympic gymnast Dominique Moceanu took home a gold medal at 14 years old. She was the youngest member of the American women’s team, the first and still only team to take home the coveted top prize. This thrilling moment of success was undercut by her own personal shortcomings––Moceanu fell during both attempts at the vault and slipped on the beam––but it didn’t matter to a young Jen Bricker, a young aspiring athlete who watched it all go down on her television screen in Illinois. Born without legs, Bricker was magnetized by Moceanu and her athletic prowess. It inspired her to believe she could do anything. Little did she know this initial inspiration came from a far deeper emotional place.
Director Torquil Jones had already been working on a sports documentary charged with family drama (what became the electric Villeneuve Pironi) when he learned about Moceanu and Bricker’s stranger-than-fiction story. In 2012, Moceanu co-authored a memoir, “Off Balance,” detailing her discovery that Bricker was actually her younger sister. Bricker’s birth was kept a secret by her parents, whose obsession with fostering their daughter’s athletic career became abusive and destructive. Bricker, who herself grew up to become an aerial performer and public speaker, reached out to Moceanu in an attempt to rebuild what had been a broken family. This saga is recounted in the final product, titled She Looks Like Me, which recently celebrated its World Premiere at the 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival.
Using a combination of interviews, archival footage, newly shot vérité, and especially ephemeral reconstructions, Jones takes us through the life-altering journey both Moceanu and Bricker took to get them where they are today. From Bricker’s own adversity as a women with a disability, to Moceanu’s fight for independence after years of abuse at the hands of infamous trainer Béla Károlyi, each of them went through unique struggles that eventually brought them together as two sisters looking to build their own vision for the future, but together. Today, the two sisters’ families share a close bond that was only made stronger by the process of filming the documentary, one of the many things they expressed to GVN in our extensive, exclusive conversation. Here it is, edited for length and clarity.
What was the impetus for this documentary, Torquil? Who initiated it with who?
Torquil Jones: I was made aware of the story by one of our producers. This was based on news articles and features that had been done when the story broke in 2012. The story’s incredible as a headline, but once you actually look into it further, what you find is two incredible life stories that you could tell without any connection. I’m raising a daughter, so the theme of nurture and nature and the father-daughter relationship was really interesting. That’s what I connected with straight away. I also come from quite a complicated family dynamic, so I was really interested in the idea of Dominique and Jen meeting for the first time and building that relationship. We approached Jen and Dominique and then it took about a year to get the production started.
Jen and Dominique, I’m sure you guys went through the ringer with this story when it first went public. What made Torquil the person that made you want to open yourselves up to the spotlight again and give this story the cinematic treatment?
Dominique Moceanu: When I wrote [my memoir] “Off Balance” with Paul and Teri Williams, [a documentary adaptation] was always something we wanted to do. I know Jen wanted to do something as well. We had talked about it over the years, but it had to be the right person. We had gotten offers on and off for over a decade but from people who just did not resonate with the story. What I found fascinating about Torq was that he really did read the book. Some people would come to us without having read the book and so they didn’t understand the depths of our relationship. You can tell when somebody has read your story and knows your story. When I talked to Torq, there were subtleties of the relationship that he dived into and things he would say about my connection with my father that really felt right. This film is so closely written from my book that I was watching it come to life on film. I will forever be grateful because this is really hard on my family and it’s hard on me. I’m more vulnerable than I’ve ever been sharing these things because it’s like I’m reliving them. It’s emotional, but Torq was so sensitive with the material and he did it such justice.
Jen Bricker: So much has evolved since the story first came out. There’s so much life going on with Dominique and her gym and her kids and with me and my performing and traveling and my husband––I just had a baby. Then, I moved closer to her. We have kids now, they’re a year apart—these things we never thought would happen. There was so much movement and change that happened when [Torquil] came. It was just the right time. A lot of people have their stories told either when they’re dead or when they’re literally 80 or 90. I thought why would we wait? There’s not enough words for me to tell you all the moving parts but it really was the right time in so many different ways. I don’t think people realize how much it takes to do this kind of a project. You just see the end result and you enjoy it but there is so much that goes on behind it. To even get two people’s schedules in alignment but then to have three people’s worlds or a company and then two individual worlds come together to be able to do this kind of a project, it’s not a small feat.
Torquil, your approach to the reconstructions is very unique to the documentary format and I think it’s one that our audience is not quite as familiar with. Talk to me about the choice to take a more subjective approach.
Jones: For this story, one of the challenges was that a lot of the story wasn’t filmed. There was a lot going on behind closed doors and a lot was being described by the interviewees. It was a choice of archival footage, verité, or reconstruction. We tried to film as much variety as we could across the production with both Jen and Dominique but, because this was a retrospective story, you have to keep going back into those moments: there’s Jen finding out, there’s Dominique finding out right at the end of the film, there’s the day of Jen’s birth, there’s winning Olympic gold, there’s performing Britney Spears. There’s all these amazing moments that each have to be given the right amount of attention and care. There’s a certain selection of those moments, like, for example, Jen finding out, where there’s obviously no footage. That was a conversation happening over breakfast. The decision there was to make the audience feel like they were there in the room and it was happening in real time, so that’s where that reconstruction comes in. We had seven or eight scenes that needed that reconstruction element, so we went to a studio in the UK for four days and filmed those sequences back-to-back with actors and locations and costumes.
There’s a very particular style in these reconstructions, for example how you obscure the face and go very tight on several insert shots. How did you decide this approach to frame composition?
Jones: With reconstruction, there are two options. You either make it incredibly real or you make it incredibly abstract. I always feel that, in documentaries, the abstract route is the better route because so much in this story is about personal feelings and emotions. If you can do it in an abstract way—for example, when Jen finds out in the film, you see the shot of an actor but it’s incredibly abstract which means you’re seeing Jen from her interview in your mind. That’s always been my approach. We used diopters on the lenses that refract all the light. Everything’s shot anamorphic. Making it as dreamlike and abstract as possible was the way to go.
Jen and Dominique, as someone who has seen some documentaries like this, it has never never crossed my mind, until now, how the subjects might feel watching their story being told in this very dreamlike, abstract way. Could you recount for me your reactions when watching the film with these new narrative segments intertwined into the story?
Moceanu: Honestly, for me, it was extremely emotional because I felt like I was reliving my story. [Referring to the scene Torquil just described] Torq was able to bring to life what really happened and what I was feeling in that moment and what I remember so vividly––sitting in the car, opening Jen’s letter, and the rain pouring in. It was that gray, December rainy day and I sat there after taking that statistics final and I went to go get that certified letter. It was captured in the manner in which I felt it. To me, that was really incredible because Torq was not there. He only knows from having read the book and obviously our conversations, yet when I am sitting in my car [in the film], that’s how I see myself in that moment. For me, I think that’s why it tugged at my heartstrings so deeply. There are so many emotions throughout the film that I experience in telling the stories again. The manner in which Torq told the story was so real and so raw and like you’re living it with us. When you see the younger me as a gymnast and you have Jen and that depiction of her head as she’s watching––to me, that is amazing. I feel like people can connect with that so deeply.
Bricker: I think it’s very unique. There’s a very fine line of being able to do it the right way or in a way that’s palatable for people. I think what I have more of is the emotion behind it. I remember the emotion almost more than what you see in the actors. For me, that’s the best way I can describe it. I think I was so overwhelmed with this fiction—it’s like fiction. It’s incredible that all of this actually happened. I was drawn to her as a kid. I had noticed similarities. We loved all the same things, we looked alike, and for me, as a kid, this was everything. I was drawn to her as much as you could have to be drawn to somebody. Then, so much in this documentary for me is what I’m currently doing, too. The performing aspect, my husband, my baby. So, for me I come at it from a different way of seeing it in that the memories from before were just emotions for me. It’s like I remember how I felt. I remember all the emotion, the feeling, the disbelief, the shock, the excitement, the motivation to meet them, the disbelief. I wanted to meet them and I wanted them to know that they had another sister out there. Then, seeing my baby for the first time on camera, seeing my husband and I, the way they filmed that abstract with Dominik and I—Dominik and Dominique, go figure.
Moceanu: What are the chances of that?
Bricker: What are the chances? [all laugh]
Moceanu: I’m like, why’d you marry a Dominik?
Bricker: I know. Like, seriously? No, no, Dominik, not Dominique. No, Dominique, not Dominik. Like, oh my gosh.
I didn’t even put two and two together in my head.
Bricker: It’s just another layer, right?
Moceanu: We’ve got many.
Bricker: We’re onions. So, there are many layers to me for this documentary. It’s just like I said before, it was such a special time to film. We filmed during my whole pregnancy.
Wow!
Bricker: Yeah, from the beginning. Torq was like, “Well that’s good timing for us!” [laughs] That’s another very special element, as if this wasn’t special enough, which it is. But then on top of it for me it was just like wow. Being able to film during the whole pregnancy with Dominik and with Dominique, it was the perfect time in every single way. There are so many moving elements and they all came together like it was meant to be.
Moceanu: And it brought us closer together.
Bricker: Yes.
Moceanu: Because there was a period of time when she went off and did her thing and I was doing my thing and we were busy. I had things that had taken my attention away. I was opening up my business. My kids were becoming teenagers. My son is training for the Olympics. It brought us back together as a family again. I think that, to me, is more important than anything for us.
Bricker: Yes. That’s the most important.
Moceanu: I was feeling like, “Gosh, I’m not able to connect with her as much,” and then we had things that were keeping us apart and things we didn’t get to talk about.
Bricker: This brought us together more because it forced us to work together. We had to make time.
Moceanu: Yes. We got to do some family things, which we needed to do as well. She was at my baby shower, that was very special. We developed this new closeness as moms, her being a first-time mom and me having a third child. I wasn’t planning to have any more children, but Jen always says she knew I’d have three.
Bricker: I did! I don’t know how.
[laughs] There’s a link!
Bricker: I was like, “She’s going to have three,” but I never thought we would have kids so close in age.
Moceanu: Right. That’s what was really cool about it. Now, we both have little babies that are amazing in their own right. We’re excited to see them grow together. Jen’s on the East Coast now, so hopefully we can make memories in the future because we are a little bit closer. Family is most important at the end of the day and we want to be a part of each other’s lives and have the kids grow up together and all of that. We haven’t had a chance to really talk about this that much but this documentary was able to bring us closer together. Life is busy, you’re going in different pathways, and then this brought us back together again to have these experiences together, which was needed.
Thank you both for sharing all of those feelings, it’s incredibly touching. This really is a family story, at the end of the day. Torquil, your last film, Villeneuve Pironi, was another sports documentary but also a family story in the same vein. What keeps you coming back to these family stories specifically through the lens of sport?
Jones: My background is in sports television. I think sport always gives you jeopardy, it always gives you drama, it always gives you a peak moment. I think what connects this film to my previous films is you can make a very exploitative tabloid version of this story very easily for TV, but the thing that I always connected with was the hope in the story, the fact that Jen and Dominique decided to get in touch with one another. They wanted to build a family. In documentary, there are a lot of negative stories around at the moment. We live in a very polarized world. It’s very black and white, and I think this story is very nuanced and complicated. What I really liked was the positive side of it, the fact that both Jen and Dominique decided to do something positive. They decided to build a family together when there were so many challenges to get through. They’re doing something that is really inspirational.
She Looks Like Me held its World Premiere as part of the Documentary Spotlight section of the 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival. It is currently seeking distribution.
Larry Fried is a filmmaker, writer, and podcaster based in New Jersey. He is the host and creator of the podcast “My Favorite Movie is…,” a podcast dedicated to helping filmmakers make somebody’s next favorite movie. He is also the Visual Content Manager for Special Olympics New Jersey, an organization dedicated to competition and training opportunities for athletes with intellectual disabilities across the Garden State.