After taking time off from her movie career for her pregnancy, Halle Berry is getting ready to go back to work. She didn’t have pregnancy–related hair loss that affects many women. Apparently, she isn’t suffering from undue stress of being a new parent. During her pregnancy and after, she’s been just as gorgeous as ever.

So why is Halle going bald? The truth is, she voluntarily decided to cut her hair for her next movie role. The film won’t be released until 2010. This movie is currently called “Nappily Ever After,” according to the Internet Movie Database. The title and the movie are based on a Trisha Thomas’ novel by that name.

Berry’s character is a young single female, Venus Johnston, who has hair problems and relationship issues. Which came first isn’t clear. However, in the movie, Venus is so frustrated by her hair falling out that she preempts Mother Nature and shaves her head.

The rest of the movie explores themes about hair, perceptions of beauty, and cultural norms. This is done by chronicling people’s reactions to Venus and her quest  to establish a different foundation for her self-esteem. These themes look directly at the subject that many people politely avoid when confronted with another person’s permanent or temporary hair loss.

The special emphasis that many cultures put on hair make hair loss a painful, traumatic experience. The fact that most people move on or “get over it” doesn’t change the fact that baldness is a blow to your self-esteem. In addition, it does alter other people’s perceptions of your virility, fertility, and more. In polite society, no politically correct person would ever mock or insult a differently abled person who is deaf or physically deformed. Yet baldness, voluntary or involuntary, is still quite a spectator sport. Any slang dictionary has numerous popular expressions that are used without forethought in our culture.

The director, Patricia Cardoso, didn’t ask Berry to shave her head. She could have opted for a bald cap and kept her own tresses untouched. Halle wants to have the complete experience so that she can give moviegoers a better performance. She expects her hair to grow back, at least she hopes it will. If it doesn’t, she will already be prepared for a starring role in a new life without hair. Imagine that!