During the late 1980s/early 1990s, super model “heroin chic” waifs trotted the catwalks and controlled the newsstands with the warped perception of feminine perfection. It was a time of decadence, fashion, and food. LITTLE food, to be exact. Women in particular were influenced into looking super slim and maintaining a low weight to stay attractive 24/7. Now, 40+ years later, we are bombarded with GLPs and new exercise regimes alongside fad diets with the constant reminder to “be your most authentic self” which frankly…doesn’t exist.  

Saccharine is an Australian-made film, focused on Hana – a half-Asian, lesbian medical student who unmistakenly does not feel comfortable in her slightly overweight body. She diligently attends work out sessions (mostly to catch the eye of pretty trainer Alanya) while avoiding self-sabotaging behavior, even if that means dumping fresh donuts in the bin and covering them with liquid soap. Hana keeps a daily food journal to track her intake, loss, gain and the details of her day which seem to be more painful than helpful. On the first day of anatomy class, her fragile footing finally gives way: her team unveils an enormous female cadaver, destined for dissection, and the sight becomes the tipping point that sends Hana into a dark disintegration.  

It’s her birthday and while out enjoying with colleagues and friends, Hana spots a former high school mate who was once known to be the obese girl in class. However, on this evening, Melissa was unrecognizable: trim, glowing and happy to share her secret of a successful “weight loss solution” – the Gray. The gray are unapproved supplements which help you drop weight expeditiously without major side effects. Hana, eager for a similar outcome, swallows one of two capsules, observing a difference the following morning. Pleased with the results and ignoring a brief hallucination of a dead body in her home, Hana is determined to follow this path. After she tests the pills in the lab, of course!  

So, what exactly is in these magic tablets? Phentermine? Fat burners? Human ash? If you chose cremated remains, you’d be a winner winner, chicken dinner! And by that, I mean literally…consume the dead and splurge without the purge. As horrific and hesitant to discover this unsettling truth, the takeaway after 2 doses down is worth whatever risk she’d encounter. But where would she find more of it?  

Hana and her medical team continue to slice and dice “Bertha”, the sarcastic moniker they’ve tagged to their assigned corpse. Once the rib cage is removed, it occurs to Hana that she does not have to search long and hard for her next capsule at all. In fact, she was staring down at the never-ending supply of weight loss medication in all its fabulously fat glory.  

She sheds the pounds and continues to not only eat, but binge at hefty new levels of blackout proportions which causes loss of memory and her sanity. Sleep eating and awakening to the disastrous aftermath of her new disorder have vital consequences which Hana can no longer hide. The haunting image of Bertha not only appears through convex reflections but manifests into an invisible form, lashing out quite viciously. The only remedy to save herself and ward off the grotesque visions of big Bertha is to gorge herself with food until the tummy rumbles cease.  

Friends and family have expressed concern regarding the situation. Bertha, (real name, Grace), is in a putrid state of being, while Hana's episodes of binge eating have escalated considerably. In the absence of constant food consumption, Hana encounters nightmares which materialize as tangible threats. The nature of the connection between them remains a mystery, as does the method by which she might sever it to ensure her safety. In the end, what is this all worth? Self-improvement? Desirability? Health and stability? It’s never enough, until unfortunately it is.