Occasionally a horror movie breaks out in the festival circuit, but rarely quite like The Substance did at Cannes. A contender for the Palme d’Or and winner for Best Screenplay, Coralie Fargeat’s film is both an extreme body horror and a scathing rebuke of Hollywood’s obsession with unreachable beauty standards. It’s also one of the most disgusting movies I’ve ever seen, with multiple scenes pushing my gag reflex near the breaking point. But even if you’ve got a weak stomach, don’t let that deter you from checking out one of the best films of this type since David Cronenberg’s heyday, and an unbelievable performance by Demi Moore.
Moore isn’t as prolific as she used to be, and that’s part of the genius of casting her in The Substance. For more casual moviegoers, they might not have seen her in years. But those who grew up with her movies, they remember that she was considered the ideal woman by many. She starred in movies that emphasized her physical features and sexuality. And as she got older…well, those roles began to dry up. And that knowledge makes her perfect for the role of Elisabeth Sparkle, a former award-winning actress who became known later for her long-running, but old-fashioned, aerobics show. Dennis Quaid plays Elisabeth’s revolting boss, Harvey (probably not a coincidence that name), who fires her on her 50th birthday and immediately starts looking for someone younger and fresher to take over. This guy is a scumbag. In-between stuffing his face full of food he smiles a big car salesman grin and talks about how women are essentially useless in every way once they hit a certain age. It’s like this guy went to the JD Vance school of charming women.
Distraught, Elisabeth is put up as a candidate for “The Substance”. We don’t know what it is, exactly, but the film opens with it being injected into an egg yolk, which then duplicates into a new egg. Elisabeth is offered this strange, green serum, which comes with a Faustian deal. If you take The Substance, it will cause her to immediately birth a perfect, more beautiful version of herself. But there are rules. The new version can only be out there for a week at a time, sustained by fluids from the original host who remains in a catatonic state. After a week, the host takes over and the newer model recovers in stasis. One week at a time; they share a consciousness, they share everything. Any abuse of the time will be stolen from the other.
Elisabeth agrees. Even acquisition of The Substance is high-strung and tenuous, it feels like a heist movie. But the actual process of using it is grotesque, with lots of cutting, tearing, and bodily fluids. When Elisabeth births the new her, it literally bursts free from her broken spine, like a Xenomorph erupting from a victim’s chest. The new Elisabeth takes the name Sue (played by Margaret Qualley) and is an instant sensation. Harvey LOVES her and makes her the centerpiece of a brand new workout show, which resembles half-naked music video background dancing. Cinematographer Benjamin Kracun’s camera doesn’t miss a single curve over Sue’s body. She exudes sex appeal and innocence and, unfortunately for Elisabeth, arrogance and youthful transgression.
The first half of The Substance is as intoxicating as the lure of the liquid itself. Fargeat indulges in satirizing the absurdity of Hollywood, the way it idolizes beauty and rewards celebrity. A time-lapse of Elisabeth’s star on the Walk of Fame shows the rapid trajectory of her career, from people stopping to praise her to eventually someone dropping food all over it and smearing it in red sauce. Moore’s bold performance finds her projecting Elisabeth’s aimlessness, her fear, her embarrassment at being considered “old” in the eyes of Tinseltown. Fargeat’s pointed irony is that Moore looks absolutely incredible, which makes a-holes like Harvey even more ridiculous.
The juiciest aspect of The Substance is the growing tension between Elisabeth and Sue, who begin to grow jealous of the other. Sue quickly becomes a much bigger star at the network than Elisabeth, and because she’s young, she wants to live every single moment to the fullest, which she does. Elisabeth is left to pick up the pieces, literally cleaning up after the messes created by her younger self. Expert camerawork frequently positions a massive billboard of Sue in frame, like it’s never out of Elisabeth’s eyeshot. She can never get away from Sue, even when she’s not around.
I’m less a fan of what follows, as Sue’s transgressions go too far, causing a massive body transformation in Elisabeth that resembles Cronenberg’s most bizarre horror creations. The sharp turn in tone brings gushers of blood, over-the-top mutations, and repulsive levels of gore and viscera that you can only laugh at dismissively…or shield your eyes in disgust. What it doesn’t do is add anything of value to The Substance, which already operated on a high level and got dragged down.
Issues with the final act aside, The Substance moves at a blistering 140-minutes, and has loads of style and substance to spare. Moore and Qualley’s performances compliment one another beautifully, you simply couldn’t have one without the other. That’s an amazing feat considering they are almost never in the same scene. The Substance is one of the grossest movies I’ve ever seen and I can’t wait to see it again, even though it does things with needles that send a shiver down my spine. This is a film that will divide audiences but also create a loyal and rabid fanbase for Fargeat who will eagerly await the French director’s next film. Between this and her excellent 2017 breakout, Revenge, Fargeat has a very bright future ahead.
MUBI opens The Substance in theaters on September 20th.
