Snagging a Best Screenplay award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and giving Demi Moore arguably the best role of her career, The Substance hits like a hammer with its themes about sexism, ageism, and the unrealistic expectations placed on women, especially those in the spotlight. Written and directed by French-born filmmaker Coralie Fargeat (Revenge), the film sees Moore as actress-turned-TV fitness host Elisabeth Sparkle, who has just turned 50 and whose boss, the grotesque studio head Harvey (Dennis Quaid), is on the verge of firing her for being too old to keep younger viewers engaged.
Elisabeth finds out about a mysterious new miracle drug that creates a younger copy of you, with only one caveat: the time you get to spend as this person needs to be split, with one body being active for one week followed by one week in the original body. This is no fountain-of-youth drug; it creates an entire second person that is born out of you (in a manner so disturbing, I won’t describe it, and it may lose some audience members right out of the gate). Elisabeth’s second body is the 20-something Sue (Margaret Qualley), who must then make sure that Elisabeth’s original body is cared for, fed and hidden away until her week is up. There’s a delicate process involved in using this drug, and it can get messy or worse when the regimen is thrown off, and Sue is so obsessed with getting Elisabeth’s old job and becoming famous again that she threatens to ruin both of their lives in unspeakable ways in order to achieve it.
At its core, The Substance is a satire. But the way Moore and Qualley handle their balance of bleary-eyed desire of youth, fame, and all the things that come with both, makes the film become a genuine body horror experience at times, especially as the film rages toward its shocking, yet inevitable, climax. The depths of hell that is beauty culture is something most men will never understand, but this movie does a pretty stellar job of mapping out the journey is a provocative, perhaps somewhat overly dramatic way that still feels true and emotionally devastating.
And that’s just how The Substance works as a journey. It’s also one of the most graphic and raw films I’ve seen in quite a while, with regards to the special effects makeup, most of which appears practically done. It’s as creative as it is goopy and ghastly, and the idea that Moore would subject herself to this level of messy disfigurement only makes me love her performance all the more. And her mental war with Qualley is one for the ages, as the younger slowly sacrifices the older for a shot at stardom and possibly immortality. Director Fargeat shows genuine growth as a filmmaker, and her ability find a way to take an issue that’s been around for decades and find a new way to explain and examine it is remarkable and admirable.
The film is now playing in theaters, including the Music Box Theatre.
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