While I have no doubt Betty is telling her story sincerely, I can't think of a better term for how she tells it than to call it a performance - this is what the entire film rests upon. The filmmakers steadily watch her face the entire time, zooming in slowly at times, moving out a bit at other times, letting her hands accentuate some of what she is saying; it is this capturing of her recital of the story (twice over) that fills her words with meaning. Without the guidance of her body language, we would get only a fraction of this story; her voice betrays the depth of her emotion, but it is amplified by her hands, eyes, and the rest of herself. This is what it is to let a woman speak for herself.