Well I saw it.
The Substance, starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, has been my all consuming thought since I first saw the trailers. The movie stars Moore as Elizabeth Sparkle, an aerobics instructor aged out of her host position on her fitness show. In order to regain her stardom, she decides to try the Substance, a new drug that promises a younger, better version of the user. This leads to Elizabeth having Sue (Qualley), a younger version of herself, to literally crawl out of Elizabeth and take her old job. The rules are simple: the two must switch bodies every seven days. However, as Sue grows in popularity, Elizabeth finds the switches harder and harder to go back to and begins misusing the serum.
The film is a glorious commentary on youth and beauty culture especially as it applies to women — Qualley and Moore resonate immediately with audiences, with Moore being the emotional weight of this film as the aging woman, meant to feel more out of place and unwanted with each passing second. Qualley, the younger counterpart, also gives an incredible performance as the younger Sue, desperate to cling to the life youth gets her as she watches Elizabeth become more and more irrelevant in the eyes of society. The two feel like one woman split in half, their performances perfectly capturing the feelings, fears, and desperation all women feel as we naturally get older. Coralie Fargeat, the director, truly creates a disgusting but moving piece of art that will punch audiences in the face, grab them by the shirt collar, and drag them into the mess that is societal beauty standards until the point is well understood.
While I am not one for body horror, the use of it here is truly poignant — it makes sure to truly twist the knife when showing you the pain women go through on a daily basis, be they celebrity or your average person. This film is disgusting and bizarre as the women turn on each other and essentially themselves, chasing some unreachable dream that is outside of them both, but that’s the point. Women do truly hurt themselves in some attempt to be pleasurable to people who will never think they are enough once they age out of a certain demographic. While this film is not easy on the eyes when it comes to the body horror, it’s so important to the narrative, I believe the film would be lesser without it.
Fargeat, Moore, and Qualley work together to make The Substance something that stands out among the crowd, truly something that is special and moving and MEANS something in this day and age. Horror is one of the few genres constantly pushing the envelope and invoking new ideas, concepts and arguments. The Substance is so good because it does not shy away from the brutality nor does it shy away from the argument that women are set up to fail when it comes to fighting time. The Substance lived up to all of it’s hype and surpassed it, and Fargeat is a genius. I will join the choir of praise for this film and I will stand by it for the rest of time.