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Saccharine
A gothic body-horror elegy of hunger and shame, where a woman's craving for a smaller self turns the flesh into a haunted house, and every swallowed crumb leaves a ghost behind.
Saccharine
Saccharine

"What's eating you?"

22 May 2026 Australia 113 min 7.0 (249)

Director: Natalie Erika James

Cast: Midori Francis, Danielle Macdonald, Madeleine Madden, Robert Taylor, Showko Showfukutei

Horror Eating disorders and body image Consumption and the ethics of the body Haunting, guilt and inheritance Desire and identity Diet culture and the commodification of thinness
Box Office: $456,091

Saccharine — Characters & Cast

Character Analysis

Hana

Midori Francis

Archetype: Tragic protagonist Key Trait: Self-conscious and desperate

Motivation

To be thinner, to be desired, and to escape her body's shame.

Character Arc

She moves from insecurity and longing to dependence on the pill, then to a haunting. She finally tries to eject the connection to Bertha and has to confront what she has done to herself.

Bertha

Not confirmed in research

Archetype: Vengeful ghost / mirror Key Trait: Spectral and engorged

Motivation

Unclear from the research; the haunting binds her to the body that consumed her.

Character Arc

She is the dead person whose ashes Hana consumes, and she gets heavier as Hana burns calories.

Melissa

Not confirmed in research

Archetype: Tempter / enabler Key Trait: Persuasive

Motivation

Unknown from the research.

Character Arc

A school friend who suggests the pill to Hana and sets the plot in motion.

Cast

Midori Francis as Hana
Danielle Macdonald as Josie
Madeleine Madden as Alanya
Robert Taylor as Travis
Showko Showfukutei as Kimie
Octavia Barron-Martin as Grace
Anna Adams as Ghost Cadaver
Annie Shapero as Melissa
Louisa Mignone as Professor Kasab
Joseph Baldwin as Ryan
Emily Milledge as Georgie
Gemma Bird Matheson as Nikita
Lucy Goleby as Lucy Childs
Susan Godfrey as Oncologist
Lisa Crittenden as Helen

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Dive deeper into specific aspects of the movie with our detailed analysis pages

Ending Explained

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