Sharing some of its DNA with Vox Lux, Her Smell (even having seen it, you’ll be none the wiser why it’s entitled thus) charts the rise and fall of Becky Something (Elisabeth Moss). The lead singer of ’90s punk girl band Something She, she’s a narcissistic black hole whose genius and drama is equally attractive and destructive.
Told through five different episodes over a decade – from the highs of peak performance to the lows of on-stage
wipeouts – Alex Ross Perry’s (Listen Up Philip, Queen Of Earth) film is refreshing, annoying and ultimately haunting. The writer/director casts an unflinching eye on the dynamics of female friendship, the demands of creativity, addiction, the patience of those orbiting a user and the frailty of fame. And all the above are captured via real-time long takes and vanity-free acting that recalls the audacity of Birdman.
While that allows for a grungy veracity, Becky is so relentlessly toxic that it’s hard to care for her spiral, or hope for her redemption. Yet that in itself is bracing to watch in a female-driven narrative – Dan Stevens’ weary ex and Eric Stoltz’s harried manager aside, this is a study of women: mates, mothers and lovers in all of their complexities.
While, like its protagonist,
Her Smell may wear thin and be prone to some bouts of grandiosity, it nevertheless leaves its mark – blooming like a bruise after the initial hit. That’s thanks to Moss’ committed centrifugal performance and an insistent, thrumming score that needles through every scene, as uncomfortably hypnotic as Becky herself. Jane Crowther
ceNTre sTAGe Agyness Deyn, Gayle Rankin and Elisabeth Moss as Something She bandmates Marielle, Ali and Becky Something.
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