The Substance (Coralie Fargeat, 2024)
The Substance is one of the smartest and most provocative movies of the year. Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley shine as two sides of the same coin in Coralie Fargeat’s dark comedy / body horror, that deserves reach a sizable crossover audience.
Before this the French director made one well received movie, Revenge (2017), but I’m not sure anyone or anything could have prepared us for this shockingly sensational movie, that contains one of the most out there in your face endings in recent years.
It’s not for the faint of heart. But on the other hand, most of the movie is so accessible that I would advice most discerning viewers to just take the plunge and go for it.
The Substance puts a spin on the classic story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. There is Elisabeth Sparkle (Moore), a famous but aging actress who is fired from her aerobics tv-show by the head of a tv network (a superbly smarmy Dennis Quaid), cause she is 50 and getting on a bit.
Dejected but not defeated she turns to an organization called the Substance, which offers a new (and probably highly illegal) injection. This allows her to spin-off a younger version of herself: Sue, played by Margaret Qualley.
Sue is young, pretty and ready to take the tv-world by storm. But of course, beauty comes at a price. Sue can go for seven days, but then Elisabeth has to take over for the next seven. ‘Remember: you are one.’
But what happens when Sue gets so caught up in the game that she goes on longer than she is allowed to?
Well, I won’t spoil but if you’re familiar with Oscar Wilde and the story of Dorian Gray you will get the picture.
It all leads to a showdown between the two dueling versions of the same person, with a gruesome climax taking place at the taping of the tv network’s New Year’s special, with Sue as the host.
Fargeat uses all kinds of cinematic tricks - extreme close ups, wide angle lenses - to stimulate the senses, in a way that’s not only comparable to body horror maestro David Cronenberg (The Fly) but also to the likes of Stanley Kubrick (The Shining) and Brian de Palma (Carrie), while retaining a vision all her own.
Other notable features worthy of praise: the pulsating electro score, the fabulous production and costume design, the crystal clear editing and perhaps most of all the Oscar-worthy make-up department.
Thematically, The Substance is a full frontal attack on the way society has defined female beauty, right up to the current moment, in which women both young and old are held up to impossible standards.
But it’s not quite as one dimensional as that. The Substance is also about women who take part in the beauty race when they know they shouldn’t and about women who look into the mirror and always find something new to hate about themselves.
And yes, the movie uses a lot a female beauty to make its point, even if it is to pull out the rug from under us at the appropriate moment.
That may come off as just a little hypocritical, but not nearly as much as the way female beauty has been exploited through the ages.
At roughly 140 minutes the movie just seems to fly by, i guess because what we get here is so remarkable - Moore, Qualley and Quaid are all exceptionally good - there can only be one conclusion: The Substance has got the stuff!
Note: The Substance premiered in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. It is released this week in most of the world, including the US and the UK, with other countries to follow throughout the Fall.