Review: Her Smell
In Her Smell, her third collaboration with writer-director Alex Ross Perry, Elisabeth Moss portrays Becky Something, the lead vocalist of punk rock group Something She. To say that Moss tears into the role is an understatement. It's a tour de force, to say the least, with Moss an exhilarating yet fearsome whirlwind of despicability, toxicity, destructiveness, and an almost cannibalistic self-destruction. Becky is about a thousand car crashes playing out in real time, but one can't help but remain riveted even if every instinct within one's being is telling one to be revulsed and run.
The film itself is an interesting companion piece to the recent Vox Lux, wherein Natalie Portman portrayed a similarly damaged and damaging star, though it is far more unhinged in its viciousness and is more of an endurance test for viewers. Sectioned in five acts, Her Smell dutifully chronicles the relentless narcissism and self-indulgence of a woman past her prime and deep in the throes of drug addiction. Unfortunately, she also happens to still be very much a cash-generating celebrity, which means that most who surround her are wary of rocking the boat even if that boat is riddled with holes whilst navigating the rockiest of seas. These include her ever-patient but now-struggling manager (Eric Stoltz), her mother who once relied on her financially (Virginia Madsen), and her longtime bandmate and closest friend Marielle Hell (a terrific Agyness Deyn).
There are other who are tired of her loathsome behavior: her ex (Dan Stevens), who wishes Becky could be more of a mother to their young daughter, and bandmate Ali (Gayle Rankin), who wishes that Becky would stop burning every bridge within her path, including an offer to go on tour with fellow musician Zelda (Amber Head), who wishes to extend a hand to the woman who gave her her first big break. Becky will have none of it, preferring to unleash a torrential rain of abuse on friends, family and innocent bystanders like the Akergirls (Cara Delevingne, Ashley Benson and Dylan Gelula), an upcoming girl group who idolise her.
If the first three acts are an exercise in unpleasantness, then at least the final two, focusing on Becky's recovery and re-entry into the world, are welcome sweet relief. The quietude, in comparison with the aural and visual assault that preceded it, becomes impactful and there's a wonderful cathartic quality in the way Becky is shedding her persona in favour of the more difficult task of becoming a person. Yet one also wonders if Becky's story would have been as resonant if the film had been less rambling, a little more conventional, and somewhat more, for lack of a better word, considerate of its viewers. One can understand the path that Perry has chosen to take, and one must applaud Moss for her fearless and uncompromising performance, but there's something that rings hollow at the film's end, and it may be because everyone has gone just a step too far.
Her Smell
Directed by: Alex Ross Perry
Written by: Alex Ross Perry
Starring: Elisabeth Moss, Cara Delevingne, Dan Stevens, Agyness Deyn, Gayle Rankin, Ashley Benson, Amber Heard, Eric Stoltz, Dylan Gelula, Virginia Madsen
