Midori Francis Brings ‘Saccharine’ to Sundance

Name: Midori Francis Notable past credits: “Sex Lives of College Girls” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” In 2021 she received a daytime Emmy nomination for Netflix series “Dash & Lily.” Sundance project: “Relic” writer-director Natalie Erika James’ body horror film “Saccharine,” which was acquired by IFC and Shudder shortly before the festival premiere. “ This movie is not meant to be comfortable,” says Francis, the afternoon after the midnight premiere of “Saccharine” at the festival. “ I could feel in the room that people were moved and disturbed — and that to me is what art’s about.” The lead actress was reflecting on the audience’s audible reactions to the film’s moments of body horror. Francis stars as a young lovestruck medical student who starts consuming human ashes as part of a weight loss craze, and is soon haunted by the dead man’s presence. Lexie Moreland/WWD “[James] so astutely portrays, unpacks, challenges, covertly subverts everything about what it’s like to have an eating disorder, to be stuck in a shame spiral, to be under the guise of compulsion,” says Francis, crediting James’ use of horror to comment on body dysmorphia and societal expectations, in the vein of films like “The Substance.” The actress, who’s based in Los Angeles, was excited to check Sundance

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