Her Smell follows the story of punk rock singer Becky Something, played by Elisabeth Moss. She’s wildly successful, part of a famous group called Something She, but she's mentally unstable, with wild mood swings and excessive drug use. She always wants to be the center of attention, though her actions constantly affect those around her, from her mother, played by Virigina Madsen, to her ex-husband Danny, played by Dan Stevens, as well as her fellow musicians, most notably her bassist Marielle, played by Agyness Deyn, and the film explores Becky’s many destructive relationships.
For a movie that’s more of a personal story - with Becky being at the center of this - it feels like something much grander in scale. Being told in five scenes over the course of four years, it feels like an epic. Its scope creates the illusion that it’s more in line with larger-scale films like The Godfather or Lawrence of Arabia, when it’s really a smaller scale story akin to Once. Each of these scenes - while altogether tell a complete story - also hold up well as their own little vignettes, each with a concrete beginning and end that feel like they could be part of an ongoing series of shorts.
This winds up being both a good and bad thing. There are times where it feels as if the versions of the scenes seen in the movie should have been released as their own independent shorts online, and then the versions seen in the movie should have been condensed versions of those scenes. Shots can linger on characters’ reactions while conversations can go on for just a tad too long at times, causing its two hour and fifteen minute run time to be felt at various points in the movie.
There’s a feel like a “Behind the Music” documentary feel to this movie, with plenty of long takes that follow characters around. It really strives to get the point of view of not just Becky, but those around her, which is mostly rewarding, but can feel tiresome every once in a while. There’s already so much intensity that goes into the first three scenes that by the time it gets to the fourth, which is well over an hour and a half into the movie, the audience may feel spent. While the movie does a great job at tapping into a lot of emotional energy from the various back-and-forths Becky has with various characters, it can every so often feel like it could have gotten to the point just a bit quicker in the interest of condensing some of the run time.
Despite this, the film is still incredibly engaging and each scene is great to watch, especially seeing some of the wildly different energy that goes into each of them. Some of the transitions between some of the scenes can feel slightly jarring at times - especially given how the first three have an incredibly high energy to them, while the fourth is a bit more subdued, and the fifth is a balance between manic and restrained. But each of them have their own great emotional intensity, thanks to its many strong performances, especially Moss as Becky.
Becky is almost something of a caricature. She’s grandiose, over-the-top, and times even feels oddly Shakespearean. She spouts pseudo-philosophical phrases that have no real context, invests time in having a personal shaman follow her around and listens to what he has to say, and constantly bounces around a room, doing what she feels like, when she feels like doing it. However, she’s not exactly a sympathetic person, brushing off what others ask her to do and quickly changing her mind at the drop of a dime. There are multiple points where she runs the risk of becoming incredibly annoying.
Yet, it’s Elisabeth Moss’ excellent performance that keeps the character so intriguing to watch. She delivers each line with such bravado and carries herself across the room with such a larger than life attitude that she’s a fun character, even if one with many faults. A lot of this movie relies on her performance, as her wild antics give her a booming presence each time she’s on screen. And a lot of the characters act as grounded counterpoints to Becky. What makes most of them interesting is heavily based around how Becky affects them.
While the supporting performances are crucial, it does go to show how much of this is truly Moss’ movie. One of the scenes doesn’t feature Moss until nearly the end, as she’s late for a performance, with some of the other characters anxiously waiting for her arrival and sit around talking about. It’s not a poorly done scene - in fact the anticipation makes it fun to watch - however, it’s just a scene consisting of them getting nervous and waiting for her, and talking about it. All of the drama stems exclusively from Becky, and it’s mostly all of the other characters talking about her.
All of the supporting performances are fine, even if they’re a bit more reactionary to Moss. Though they’re still given some solid material to work with as they try reasoning with her and attempt to convince her to get her act together, particularly Virginia Madsen as Becky’s mother and Eric Stoltz as the band manager. Agyness Deyn is easily the standout of the bunch as Something She’s bassist Marielle, who is the one that is probably the most fed up with Becky’s antics. While she’s far from a silent character, what makes her most compelling to watch is that her strongest scenes are her stepping away from all the action and take a moment to just take in what’s going on. Her frustrated facial expressions convey a lot of emotion that makes her by far the second most interesting character of the bunch.
Her Smell is unique in that it’s a rare “small scale epic.” It’s large in scope, taking place over the course of years, though only focusing on a core group of characters, allowing for a very personal, highly emotional story that has a great amount of energy to it. While it can feel a bit long at times and it mainly relies on Elisabeth Moss’ performance, she knocks it out of the park each time she’s on screen, and makes this one wildly enjoyable ride.
Recommendation: Watch It
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