Following her remarkable directorial debut, Revenge (2017), Coralie Fargeat’s sophomore feature, The Substance, is a wild, sexual, stylish, and incredibly grotesque Sci-Fi body horror satire that ranks among the year’s best films.
On the occasion of her 50th birthday, Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore), a formerly famous but now fading Hollywood celebrity, is fired from her long-running Aerobics TV show by her sleazy producer, Harvey (Dennis Quaid), to make room for anyone young. Devastated by being dumped because of her age, Elisabeth decides to use The Substance, a black market drug that creates a temporarily better and younger version of herself that she names Sue (Margaret Qualley). As part of the Substance’s instructions, Elisabeth is to activate her younger self once only, and she and her other self are to switch off every seven days without exceptions. Sue thrives and succeeds due to her attractiveness and young age, while Elisabeth becomes increasingly introverted and insecure. Even though they are the same person, the washed-up Elisabeth becomes envious of Sue’s success, whereas her younger self wishes to live more than seven days to enjoy her confident and hedonistic lifestyle. As a result of this conflict, The Substance’s rules are broken, which results in fatal consequences for Sue and Elisabeth.
The film’s first act focuses on establishing Elisabeth’s situation, followed by her discovery and use of the drug. Although Fargeat takes her time, the world she creates around Elisabeth, the rules and mechanisms of the drug, and the detailed depiction of how Sue is spawned from Elisabeth all combine to make for fascinating viewing.
With the arrival of Sue, things start to heat up. She’s youthful, stunning, sensual, and energetic, and Margaret Qualley as Sue sets the screen on fire. Fargeat purposefully shows close-ups of Sue’s scantily clad, intimate body parts, symbolizing the male gaze. As the film progresses, Sue begins to flourish and relish her youth, while Elisabeth gradually declines mentally and physically, secludes herself, and succumbs to self-loathing. The scene where she finally accepts her age, gets dressed immaculately to go on a date with a former classmate she met earlier, but her insecurities take over and she starts to fear the worst, wiping off her lipstick and makeup and making a complete mess of herself, perfectly captures her mental state.
Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance explores how society places beauty standards on women, causing them to develop a fear of aging. Women, in turn, succumb to this fear and go to extremes to maintain those standards and fit into our judgmental societies. This can be witnessed through the character of Sue, who begins to experience fame, fortune, and prominence as a result of her beauty and youth. In her pursuit of maintaining her glamorous lifestyle, Sue starts to break the rules of The Substance Drug, causing Elisabeth to age more rapidly and suffer skin deterioration at an alarming rate. Consequently, Elisabeth and her alter ego, Sue, develop a mutual hatred for one another. Sue thinks Elisabeth is holding her back, while Elisabeth is envious of Sue’s beauty and is angry at her for misusing the drug. This utter hatred between the two results in an absolutely bonkers and over-the-top action sequence, showcasing Fargeat’s specialty of directing action, which she previously demonstrated in Revenge (2017). Sue’s willingness to go to great lengths to maintain her radiant youth has disastrous consequences for her and Elisabeth, and this forms the crux of the final act.
There have been numerous films that have explored women’s fear of aging, including All Above Eve (1950), which did so in the psychological thriller genre; Death Becomes Her (1992), which did so in the dark comedy genre; and Fargeat, who does so very well in the body-horror genre. Coralie Fargeat may have been only two films old, but her talent for visual storytelling is immediately apparent. The best example is how she visually depicts Dennis Quaid’s character. His first scene shows him entering a bathroom, taking a leak, and talking trash about a woman on the phone. Fargeat places the camera in unusual locations, such as an Urinal (as if we are watching him from the urinal’s point of view), which I have never seen done before, giving the impression that the character is strange and off-kilter. His repulsive personality is heightened by the extreme close-ups of him devouring shrimp—the film’s most repulsive scene—along with his mouth and teeth, accompanied by the amplified sounds of his chewing. Plus, how he dresses, talks, and even walks is carefully planned to give him an utterly hateful personality, which Quaid pulls off with style.
The casting for this film was flawless, with Margaret Qualley as Sue, who is sensual and effectively portrays an eye candy, and Dennis Quaid, who feels like a natural as a sleazy producer and delivers his best performance in years. However, this is Demi Moore’s film. Her raw performance makes you feel the pain of a woman dealing with self-hatred, society’s treatment of her, and her desire to belong.
The Substance movie links: Letterboxd, Wikipedia
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