Directed by  Coralie Fargeat
Starring:  Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid

The Substance is a body-horror-psychological thriller and French Director Coralie Fargeat’s sophomore feature film after 2017’s Revenge. It tells of aging celebrity-turned-fitness-host Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) who is fired from her show by a venomous executive (Dennis Quaid) as she is no longer able to conform to Hollywood’s ageist standards of beauty.

Distracted by her grief, she suffers a car crash. While at the hospital, she is checked over by a young handsome nurse who discreetly gives her a flash drive and a number to call. The drive contains a marketing video for The Substance, a mysterious out-of-the-box chemical treatment promising a “new and better you” with the caveat of needing to switch back to the old self every 7 days with no exception.

She first dismisses this, but her mounting depression forces her to pull the trigger – and with that, a new or other self is born: Sue (Margaret Qualley), a younger, sexier version of herself. The creators of the drug state that Elisabeth and Sue are One, but The Substance starts creating a duality for both. Inevitably, hubris, greed, and desperation take over, and then mayhem ensues – and it’s a wild one!

Stylish and visually arresting, The Substance intentionally wears its influences on its sleeve. Benjamin Kracun’s photography and the film’s punchy editing allude to Kubrick’s The Shining and Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream. There are the obvious Cronenberg comparisons, as well as Lynchian motifs. But Fargeat also drops hints of Hitchcock and Brian DePalma, the latter taking up a larger influence in the third act. However, what is striking about this comparison is that Fargeat completely emasculates DePalma’s sleazy male POV. In films such as Dressed to Kill and Carrie, for example, DePalma drenches us with extended gratuitous nude scenes for the male gaze. In The Substance, Fargeat turns that around and instead critiques the sexism in DePalma’s films. Fargeat’s cleverness is hard to ignore.

There are also multiple themes at play here: ageism, sexism, duality, identity, self-esteem, middle-age crises, etc.; too many to go into for this review — but the fact the film conjures them in multitudes validates its intelligence. One thing to point out is that the film is set up as a modern-day parable/morality tale akin to Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone, Kafka’s Metamorphosis, and at its lowest, HBO’s The Hitchhiker series.

And as such, it’s meant to be digested quickly, and easily and for its hyper-reality to be taken at face value. Indeed, the film has a hallucinatory feel about it that is hypnotic, (aided by Raffertie’s haunting score and sound design) and I bought into its universe without hesitation. However, there are times when the film’s reality breaks down and I start to question certain plot points (i.e. does the character have any friends to turn to in times of need). But this is a minute distraction and not enough to take you completely away from the film.

Surprisingly, there are rewarding moments of humor in The Substance, indicative of Fargeat’s playfulness, suggesting we not take it so seriously. With the heaviness of the themes planted within the movie, The Substance highlights the absurdity with ridiculousness, extremity, and explosiveness. My screening companion mentioned The Rocky Horror Picture Show as a possible influence, and he might be right.

Moore and Qualley turn in great performances. Quaid hams it up efficiently. This is no doubt due to Fargeat’s solid direction. However, the film’s third act changed its trajectory and felt like a huge shift from the first two. While it was jarring, it also had me thinking about it days afterward, which in turn made it memorable. This is subjective but perhaps is part of the film’s strength and worthy of discourse. That said, The Substance is highly entertaining and clever if you can stomach the gore. Recommended.

So have you seen THE SUBSTANCE? Well, what do you think?

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