“Her Smell”– Movie Review

On the first weekend of The 56th New York Film Festival, I attended the U.S. Premiere of the new drama by Alex Ross Perry, “Her Smell”, starring Elisabeth Moss. 

Synopsis

When the leader of a successful rock band begins to melt down, can her career be salvaged?

Story

In the 1990’s, the all-female rock and roll band Something She was at the height of its success.  Signed to the record label Paragon, run by Howard Goodman (Eric Stoltz), they fill concert venues with their loyal fans – primarily female as well.  The band’s biggest star is lead singer Becky Something (Moss).  Unfortunately, Becky is incapable of enjoying her success due to the erratic behavior which is only intensified by her substance abuse.  This has an impact on her personal life (her husband wants a divorce and assume custody of their daughter) and professional life (internecine squabbles with band mates threaten a break-up). 

Becky’s inability to focus threatens the band’s recording sessions, too; Howard is going into debt renting studio time when she’s unable to pull herself together to assemble a new album.  Meanwhile, her personality has distorted so much that she’s feeling anger and paranoia towards a rival band.  The new group, which has been signed to Paragon by Howard, idolizes Becky but she feels as though they are in competition and is being pushed out due to the fact that her music is no longer in touch with what the young people currently want. 

Finally, Becky goes too far in her rants; not only is she unable to perform, she has alienated the other members of her band.  They break up and go their separate ways; what this means for Becky is that she retreats to her house in the country where she is able to live a more normal life and manages to stop her drug abuse.  Some years later, with her daughter now growing up, she is alone, miserable and broke due to the various lawsuits that have targeted her.  But there is an opportunity to right her ship:  Paragon is celebrating its 20th anniversary and would like Something She to perform at its concert.  Can Becky get her act together to perform one final concert with her old band?

Review

The most identifiable problem with “Her Smell” (aside from, possibly, its title) is the fact that it is difficult to muster much in the way of empathy toward the character of Becky.  At the start of the movie – which assaults the senses visually and audibly, but thankfully not in an olfactive regard, given its title – we bear witness to Becky after the point at which her demons have taken control of her behavior and actions.  If we had seen her before that period – even if it was only displayed in flashbacks – then we might have some semblance of compassion for her.

Over an hour into “Her Smell”, the mood has changed and we experience Becky in a more normal setting.  But by then, it’s too late to feel sorry for her since it’s clear that much of her collapse was her own doing.  Also, even though she is now effectively cleaned up and is in the recovery stage, Becky displays some severe personality deficits.  This suggests that the substance abuse did not cause the disruption in her behavior, but instead, only served to accentuate what was already there.  Why an audience should care about the character or her journey remains a mystery.   

Following the screening, there was an interview with Alex Ross Perry, Moss and others who worked on the film.  What inspired him to make this movie was the music; he was a big fan of both punk and grunge when he was growing up.  Also, what he wanted to focus on was a woman in music, which has been somewhat limited in past motion pictures about musicians.  Moss said that he had texted the idea to her about three years ago; at that time, it was a loose concept dealing with a rock star coping with an addiction.  Two years later, he sent her a script with a Shakespearean five-act structure.  It had turned into a much bigger story than she had originally envisioned.  She approached the character by not worrying about whether or not Becky was likeable.