Movie Review: ‘The Substance’

Plot: On her fiftieth birthday, once-beloved movie star Elizabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) is dismissed from her long running television aerobics show due to her age. After a minor car accident briefly puts Elizabeth in the hospital, a young nurse provides her with a flash drive advertising a sensational and seductive serum known as “The Substance.” Fascinated, Elizabeth orders and uses The Substance and discovers that it generates a younger version of herself, that calls herself Sue (Margaret Qualley). Meanwhile Elizabeth remains in a coma and the two must switch every other week. However, before long Sue refuses to “respect the balance” and stays active for longer and longer periods of time. The result is a a twisted body-horror tale that is as fascinating as it is frightening.

Review: Every year, there’s that one movie that comes along that everyone seems to be buzzing about. A movie that flies under the radar at first but once discovered seems to take over the zeitgeist. I call those films the “ya gotta see this movie” movies. You can almost hear your buddy speaking the line in a low, conspiratorial tone. For the majority of cinephiles in 2024 that movie is undoubtedly The Substance. From the time this flick dropped at Cannes, everyone I talked to emphasized how much I needed to make this movie a priority.

Now that I’ve finally had a chance to take in director Coraline Fargeat’s sophomore feature film, I can say definitively that the hype is real. A searing, twisted, satirical, and dark film of fantastic phantasmagoria, The Substance offers a body horror flick in the vein of David Cronenberg. Indeed it’s likely the best in that sub-genre since Cronenberg’s own 1986 masterpiece The Fly. I know that’s high praise and some might even say sacrilege, but it’s the only comparison I can offer to emphasize how truly remarkable this movie is.

The Substance is led by two stellar performances, with Demi Moore as the older Elizabeth and Margaret Qualley as the younger Sue. Moore gives the most committed, vulnerable, and honest performance of her career. Moore literally bares it all with this being such a raw performance you can’t help but be stunned. There’s a scene where Elizabeth prepares for a date while looking in a mirror that had my jaw on the floor and that I’m sure many women will be able to relate to. Moore embodies the self-loathing that many women I believe feel about growing older and losing their beauty. What’s tragic is that it’s a self-loathing heavily influenced by the media. The pressure to stay, look, and feel young is ubiquitous and exacerbated by social media. Kudos to Moore for undergoing a prosthetic heavy transformation late in the film. I won’t say why or the context but rest assured it’s captivating.

As for Qualley, she continues her streak as the Indie darling, with last year’s Poor Things and this year’s Drive-Away Dolls already in her rearview mirror and films by Ethan Cohen and Richard Linklater on the horizon. Even though Qualley’s Sue is supposed to be a “younger, better” version of Elizabeth, her personality and vivaciousness are distinctly different. Once Sue takes over Elizabeth’s old job, she’s caught up in the glitz and glamor of Hollywood, where beauty, fame, money, and station are paramount. Yet much like Elizabeth, Sue desperately clings to these ultimately empty pursuits and continues to disrespect the balance. The result is a horrific and stomach churning ending that you’ll desire to turn away from, but will be unable to comply.

However, as stunning as Moore and Qualley’s performances are, The Substance succeeds because of the superb direction of Coraline Fargeat. Fargeat manages to simultaneously deliver a horrific body-horror flick and a deeply feminist commentary about what it means to be an aging woman in the industry desperately trying to remain beautiful and relevant. The fact The Substance uses Hollywood as the jumping off point doesn’t in any way diminish how relevant the topic is to women at large, and how damaging the pressure to stay young and beautiful can be both mentally and physically.

Indeed Fargeat’s themes are front and center and in your face. You can’t avoid them. In some ways the scene where slimy executive Harvey (in a deliciously deranged performance from Dennis Quaid) eats shrimp is just as disgusting as the highly sexualized aerobics routine that Sue performs. You can’t help but feel queasy. If you’re looking for subtext in The Substance you will be sadly disappointed. In fact I’d say the overt nature of the film’s themes is exactly the point. I keep thinking of that quote from the fictional character Garth Marenghi who says, “I know directors who use subtext and they’re all cowards, everyone one of them!” Fargeat is decidedly not a coward. She’s fearless and so is The Substance.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the tremendous visuals in The Substance. The color palette pops with colors that are as vibrant and lively as The Substance‘s characters. In an era where so often the color schemes in films defaults to yellow and washed out, it was truly refreshing to see bright colors on screen. Fargeat’s film is significantly enhanced by Benjamin Kracun’s excellent cinematography, with many scenes heavily influenced by the works of Stanley Kubrick, particularly The Shining. It’s complimented by a harrowing score from Benjamin Stefanski, better known by the stage name Raffertie.

Coraline Fargeat’s The Substance proves to be one of the most original and captivating films of 2024. Anchored by top notch performances from Moore and Qualley, it’s an uncompromising look at the standards of beauty for women in the 21st century. It’s also just damn good body-horror film and one of the most entertaining features released this year. Do yourself a favor and place your order for The Substance immediately.

Just remember to respect the balance.

My rating system:

1 God Awful Blind Yourself With Acid Bad

2 Straight Garbage

3 Bad

4 Sub Par

5 Average

6 Ok

7 Good

8 Great

9 Excellent

10 A Must See

The Substance: 9/10