Movie Review: The Substance

I don’t know what the circumstances are that prevented French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat from being discovered earlier in life, but I am glad we have gotten at least 2 films featuring the 48-year-old director’s topical and satirical blend of Lynchian weirdness and Cronenbergian body horror with a hyperpop spin. Following up her indie hit feature debut Revenge (2017), the director and screenwriter uses stylishly bizarre imagery and some truly shocking plot developments to eviscerate our culture’s obsession with beauty in one of the year’s most entertaining and outrageous movies.

From the opening sequence that summarizes the life of Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) by observing her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame over the course of several decades it becomes apparent that we are in for something truly unique, and what follows doesn’t disappoint. Having just turned 50, the once celebrated actress is fired from her popular aerobics show for being too old. As she drives home, she is in a severe car accident from which she luckily escapes unscathed, but while in the emergency room an attractive male nurse surreptitiously hands her a flash drive bearing the label, “The Substance”.

When she gets back to her luxurious, modern apartment she pops the drive into her TV and is presented with an ad that promises a “younger, more beautiful, more perfect” version of herself. She initially scoffs and throws it away, but after being reminded of the nigh-impossible beauty standards of her chosen profession, she digs it back out, calls the number on the back, and places an order.

After retrieving her package from a hidden storeroom in a shady part of Los Angeles, she is presented with instructions stating that she must Activate once, Stabilize daily, and Switch every 7 days without exception, being reminded that she and her new younger self are the same. She strips bare in her bathroom and examines her aging body in the mirror before nervously injecting the Activator serum, which after a few moments causes her to buckle over in pain and begin convulsing. After a few agonizing moments more, a younger version of herself emerges from her back.

Named Sue (Margaret Qualley), this new version of Elisabeth heads out into the world and is immediately hired by her old boss Harvey (Dennis Quaid) to replace her on her old show, where she becomes an instant sensation. But she can only operate one week at a time, as the old Elisabeth has to be granted back control every other week. Or does she?

Fargeat is thankfully unafraid to follow her outré story to the most extreme places, and as a result The Substance works on every level. Moore gives a powerfully vulnerable performance as Elisabeth, literally baring everything on screen to portray a woman who exudes confidence but secretly hates what she sees in the mirror. A sequence in which she is unable to leave the house for a date because she keeps running back into the bathroom to pretty herself up just a little bit more is heartbreakingly relatable and Oscar-worthy all on its own. Qualley also excels as the younger, more carefree Sue, who grows increasingly resentful towards the older Elisabeth, while Quaid is perfectly lecherous as Harvey.

No matter where you think this is all going, the ending should come as a complete surprise. Fargeat’s bold, blood-soaked vision revels in swinging between sharp satire and shocking ultraviolence, permanently searing itself into your mind. As a parable about the lengths many of us are willing to go for beauty, the mental damage it can do to us, and the cavalier disregard our younger selves have for our future, older bodies it drives its points home with a sledgehammer. And thanks to Stanislas Reydellet’s minimalist, ultra-modern production design and Benjamin Kračun’s angular cinematography it looks great doing it. Round it all out with a suitably bizarre electronic score by Raffertie and some spectacular makeup effects and you get a modern horror masterpiece.

While it wears its influences proudly and revisits themes and motifs from Fargeat’s early work, including sci-fi short Reality+, The Substance is a singular work unlike anything else you’ll see this year. Visually arresting, utterly insane, beautiful in its ugliness, and as close to perfect as any of this year’s other best films. ★★★★★