Never has something been so excellent and disturbing in equal measure.
Elizabeth Sparkle was once in the Hollywood limelight. Now older, she hosts fitness videos and is despised by producers for being too old. Facing rejection she turns to The Substance, a serum that promises to create a younger version of herself.
French director Coralie Fargeat explodes onto our screens with The Substance, starring Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, and Dennis Quaid. The film directly calling back memories of 1980s body-horror movies, from Re-Animator with its eerie green Substance to other Brian Yuzna movies such as 1989’s Society. The gross-out factor is extremely high here. To speak directly to you: I’ve not felt this uncomfortable with a film in a long time.
But is it all just intense gore and horror, as the film’s certificate states? Not at all.
The film begins with Ms Sparkle’s Hollywood walk of fame star being constructed. There is then a time lapse of her moment of fame followed by people’s adoration. Followed by people’s dismissiveness, the star becoming cracked, before eventually someone dropping a burger on it. This short sequence neatly summarizes not only the intent but also the tone and subtext of what’s to come.
Demi Moore plays Elizabeth Sparkle, movie star turned fitness video host. A common evolution, especially in the 1980s and 90s. She is career-driven and focused on being in a limelight (if not the limelight). But when Harvey, her producer (played by Dennis Quaid) wants nothing more than to replace her with someone younger, Elizabeth loses all confidence. Faced with losing her profession to those younger, she hears about an unknown medication that will supposedly regenerate her into a younger, healthier, sexier version. It has rules, but all she has ever known is on the line.
The Substance is one of the best horror films in decades: It does not talk down to its audience; It takes its time in developing its characters and its own rules; It doesn’t bog itself down with senseless dialogue. The film is well directed, speaking in actions rather than words. We know Elizabeth is career-driven not because she says so, but because of how she acts, how she lives. The audience instantly grasps where this woman is in her life and critically… what adversity she is up against.
Fargeat’s movie draws you in by preying on uncomfortable realities of Hollywood and harmful social norms. Unreasonable body expectations, the dispensing of people (in this case, actors) because they are “too old” to be considered attractive. The terrible double standards where women are treated this way, while men are old, bloated, and entitled. Demi Moore’s performance is barnstorming. It is extremely clear that she (and her counterpart Margaret Qualley) are reaching deep, deep down into very serious and raw emotions.
Then Elizabeth births another version of herself from her back.
The horror of The Substance is delightfully slow in build-up. First it is unsettling alleyways. Then it is sterile, cleanly and clinically presented “DIY” injection devices and needles. (If you are scared of needles, maybe avoid the movie.) Before it goes deeper and deeper. Weirder and wilder.
But, the critical subtext remains throughout, even as situation’s horror emerges. Elizabeth’s new self, called Sue, must share existence with Elizabeth; each of them having alternating weeks of consciousness. The screenplay has an incredibly strong idea here, not unlike The Picture of Dorian Gray, or Doctor Jekyll & Mr Hyde. Indeed, if Oscar Wilde was alive today, he might have written such a science fiction concept. We have a duality given independent bodies and time to live. But of course… there are consequences. Both physical and mental.
The film relishes in the deliberate objectification of the young and supple Sue. A gaudy, bubblegum-shaded series of “fitness routines”, sexualising Sue but also giving her power over those watching. Juxtaposed to this is Elizabeth, who during her weeks is her same abandoned self. Of course, one of The Substance instructions clearly states: You are One.
The horror only escalates as the egos at play threaten to bend and break the rules. What could be a lonely but balanced existence spirals out of control, with Moore and Qualley absolutely dominating their respective roles.
This movie is not for the faint of heart. At all. But it is an excellent horror movie that doesn’t just traumatize its audience, but it also speaks to them as well.
