I think when this ended my first reaction was "...huuhh...." like, I wasn't sure what to think about it. Then about ten minutes later it hit me, "You know, that was pretty clever." Is it much more than that? Indeed it is: this is a horror film that uses the completely vulnerable position of being in front of someone with one's intimates exposed while dialog is all to conjure up images for the audience. If you're expecting to see a whole lot of make-up and Cronengerg'd special effects (i.e. remember the episode of Ric & Morty for those who've seen it), you'll be disappointed. It doesn't matter if there are insects or not, only that this woman, Evelyne Brochu as Christine, believes it and in this conversation it veers into interrogation, or at least inquiry: why does she believe there are insects hiding under her breast? Why does she want the whole breast removed? Why not both?
It is not a short for those who are hoping for a full-blown return to Cronenberg's body horror. It's really more of a psychological study of how people perceive their illnesses. We've all had a moment where we think things may be wrong with us, physically, or psychosomatically, and it triggers something. By the end it may be confirmed that there are insects and the doctor (voiced by Cronenberg, who is almost too good as a horror movie doctor: a voice soothing/comforting and with an eerie tone), but maybe nothing's been confirmed. All that's been helped along is a patient's psychosis, and a part of her will be gone by the next day that didn't need to be taken away.
The performance by this woman is also all we see - Cronenberg has a camera strapped to his head, which is commented upon by Christine - and yet she held me in full attention. She gets the look and feel of someone who may be fully in their right state of mind while having the same contradictory look and feel of someone who is completely nuts. Again, it's a strange thing to communicate and show as an actor, but it works because it taps into something that IS relatable, despite how strange this is. And yet the most terrifying thing now, thinking back to what I just saw, is that this composition, only rarely moving from its fixed position to show a hand going to the breast or a stethoscope, is picturing those insects and how they might be right under there....
In brief, it gets under your skin without showing you really anything. Nice.
