Real Women Have Curves

I remember seeing previews for this film briefly but, havent gotten a chance to see it as of yet.
As far as why a parent would hold their child back..well, your guess is as good as mine-resentment could be one...another could be not at all what you saw it as..that a mother was bringing a child more down to earth into reality to not dream too far...but, Im not getting that from what you have said and I havent seen the film so, I cant say really.
Any other info you can give on the film?

I saw it a few weeks ago.
It's a great film, IMO.

You may find some of the things incredible, but I think it was quite realistic. The view of a typical working class family of Mexican migrants and their first generation American daughters.

It often happens that people who migrate to a different country mantain a fixed view of values as they were when they left theirs.
The Garcias had the typical conservative of view of Mexican lower class families in the 60s-70s.
The generation clashes shown are also typical of that era in this country.

The mother-father dialectics is great, showing that the females usually are more important than the males in preserving an unjust status quo.

The mother is very ignorant, and all she wants is her daughters to marry (that´s why she keeps the statue of St. Anthony heads down). She doesn't understand why one of them wants to study and the other wants to be an entrepreneur. All she understands is that they are fat and unmarried.

It's not resentment, but a sclerotized view of what should "happiness" be, adjusting to social norm.

To me, it was a "feel good" movie.