Starring: Midori Francis, Madeleine Madden and Danielle Macdonald
Directed by: Natalie Erika James
Rated: R
Running Time: 112 minutes
IFC Films
Our Score: 3 out of 5 Stars
Medical student Hana (Midori Francis) is determined to get to 60 kilograms, or 132 pounds for us Americans. She basically starves herself, pushes through a grueling multi-week fitness program, and generally seems miserable on her weight-loss journey. We’re not quite sure what is driving her to these extremes when she runs into an old high school acquaintance. That former classmate used to be morbidly obese, but is now almost unrecognizable to Hana. Her former classmate’s secret? She basically claims it’s a magic pill.
And just like Jack and the Beanstalk, it works. Hana, now deeply curious, analyzes the pill and discovers it contains phosphates, chemicals … and human ashes. She knows what everything else is and its impact, but it’s the human ashes that have her questioning, not only if it’s the key ingredient, the consequences. But she also really, really wants to lose weight. If human ashes are the key, surely Hana won’t mind continuing this new weight-loss regimen as a med student. Especially when a whale-sized cadaver arrives and no one notices a few ribs missing.
As a mix of “The Substance” and “Thinner,” “Saccharine” swings from comical body horror to unnerving possession tropes. There’s a lot going on here, and the film never quite finds a delicate balance between its many ideas. As mentioned earlier, we never fully understand what drives Hana to such horrific extremes. Is it love? Social media? Parenting? Bullying? Societal pressure? It’s all piled onto the movie’s plate, but it never takes the time to savor the bites. That being said, Francis does a fantastic job of savoring every scene she’s in.
Francis fully commits to Hana’s shocking transformation alongside the increasingly spiritual and supernatural developments bubbling beneath the surface. The obese corpse haunts her from afar even; its presence ranges from uncomfortable chuckles to genuine winces. The overweight specter hangs over nearly every scene, though I wish I had a stronger grasp of the Eastern influences at play. There are clear Buddhist and other religious images throughout, but they often feel buried beneath the film’s many competing ideas.
In the age of GLP-1s, and with my own struggles with weight over the years, “Saccharine” feels timely even when it’s a bit of a mess. For a film inherently about excess, it could use some trimming. Still, Francis helps smooth over many of the rough spots, and when Hana is alone in her apartment after dark, the movie usually delivers a freaky good time.