Perry’s longest and arguably most ambitious film to date takes to another level his long interest in creative angst and the instinctual (mis)communication between old acquaintances, centered now on the raging figure of a grunge star burning all bridges with self-destructive abandon. Elisabeth Moss delivers a raw, unbridled performance as Becky Something, seen first in a post-performance rush turned maelstrom as she tears through backstage dressing rooms, lacerating bandmates, rivals and ex-husband alike while her personal shaman awaits. Four immersive, real-time chapters vividly evoke the exhilaration and inevitable disappointment of fickle rock stardom, tracking the dangerous admixture of adrenaline, fear and aching loneliness that fuels Becky’s performative on-and-offstage selves while moving the film, in lurching steps, towards a possible redemption. Although Her Smell openly evokes Courtney Love in its title and key details, Perry avoids biopic cliché by giving just enough time to supporting characters—bandmates, family and, in a resonant performance, Eric Stoltz as Becky’s harried manager—to craft a fascinating study of the unstable relationship between star and all of those dependent on the fame they both relish and resent.