Asking the Wrong Questions

Making a movie is a complicated, time-consuming endeavor. Releasing a movie—especially with an eye towards the major film festivals and awards circuits—is arguably even more so. The game we critics like to play, therefore, in which we grab at several movies released around the same time and try to identify a common theme, is more often the product of marketing decisions and pure chance than a true reflection of prevailing cultural trends. Nevertheless, as I watched the closing credits of Aaron Schimberg's A Different Man , I found myself comparing it to The Substance (dir. Coralie Fargeat) and Emilia Pérez (dir. Jacques Audiard) and asking an uncomfortable question: why is it that 2024 seems to have delivered not one, not two, but three different movies all riffing on the idea that transformation is bad, impossible, and that if you nevertheless do attempt it, you will probably die? The Substance and Emilia Pérez are among last year's most lauded movies. When the Oscar nomin...