HER SMELL
US, 2018, 135 minutes, Colour.
Elizabeth Moss, Dan Stevens, Virginia Madsen, Amber Heard, Gayle Rankin, Ageyness Deyn, Cara Delevingne.
Directed by Alex Ross Perry.
Her Smell seems a strange title – although the director indicates that it is used in the musical world as the “smell of magic�. This is a film about a rock star, Becky, a rock star with many personal problems, yet with a talent in her style of music. She is played with full of vigour by Elisabeth Moss, doing her own singing.
There is a strong supporting cast including Dan Stevens as her former husband, Virginia Madsen as her mother, and a group of talented actresses who play singers and musicians in the two bands in which Becky was involved.
Those who are into this kind of musical world will be familiar with the characters and their situations, the type of music and its impact. Those who find this kind of musical world somewhat alienating (or completely alienating) will find it difficult to maintain interest.
The screenplay is structured in five episodes. The audience is introduced to Becky, performance, erratic behaviour, clashes with her band members, her sense of wilfulness and demands. It also introduces us to her former husband, played by Dan Stevens, who is still supportive of her. Cara Delevingne portrays a singer who is interested in another group rather than the one that Becky belongs to, Something She. Also involved is her producer, played by Eric Stoltz. She also shows that she is interested in seances and mentored by a shaman. Becky is an alienating character, especially for the audience.
This is evident in the second episode where some of the members of the band cannot pdirecut up with Becky’s moods and tantrums and leave. Her producer is also promoting his second band, Akergirls, and wants Becky to sing with them. Becky disrupts the sessions.
By the third episode, Akergirls have achieved a reputation, Becky singing with them. Her drummer has returned to work with her. However, she is still erratic, arrives late for a performance, a camera crew in tow, but this episode office offers an opportunity for the audience to see her former husband, still sympathetic and supportive, as well as seeing her mother. When her mother wrings some papers from Becky’s estranged father, she goes into a tantrum, attacking her mother.
With the fourth episode, several years have passed, Becky seems to be much more tranquil, has time with her daughter as well as her ex-husband, but still has various moods, talking about dreams which have disturbed her, trying to explain how this influences her life – as well as her decision to be more reclusive and not wanting to go out of her house.
In the fifth episode, 11 years have passed, the band, Something She, have reunited to participate in a concert of the producer’s musical acts. Becky is to sing one song – once again, she seems to be disturbed, asks all the musicians to join her in a seance before she goes on. While she does eventually go on, and sings one song, it is the end for her and she retreats with her daughter.
The director has seemed to indicate that much of this narrative is based on singing star, Courtney Love.
The film was critically received well, has a following, but is certainly, even with its length, a specialty for fans and those in the know rather than the general public.
