"The Substance" Review
Addiction, Women's Bodies, and Black Market Drugs for Youth are touched on in one of the most daring films of 2024.
Coralie Forgeat’s "The Substance" is a groundbreaking addition to the body horror genre, offering a unique and intriguing perspective on how society treats aging women’s bodies and the lengths someone would go to in order to meet these unfortunate societal demands.
The film begins with a shot of an egg yolk being injected with the titular Substance. After a few moments, the yolk duplicates. This sequence serves as a metaphor for the birth of a new identity, a theme that is central to the film. The next shot is a montage of Elisabeth Sparkle’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame being installed. This sequence, juxtaposed with the egg yolk, symbolizes the peak of Elisabeth's career and her public image. The flashing lights and a young Elisabeth reveling in the celebration of herself represent her youth and fame. As time goes by, cracks begin to show on the pavement where her star lies, indicating the decline of her career. People walk by, reminiscing about remembering Elisabeth from a movie or TV show. This sequence ends with a man accidentally dropping his burger on Elisabeth’s star and in trying to clean it, smearing ketchup all over it. This scene, much like the opening shot of Ari Aster’s Midsommar, explicitly details in its own way what will happen throughout the rest of the film.
Demi Moore brilliantly portrays Elisabeth, who is at the end of her career doing aerobics videos. After filming one of these videos, the once-Academy Award winner enters the men's restroom as the women’s is out of order and overhears Harvey, a network executive played by Dennis Quaid, speaking to another producer about needing someone younger and hotter to replace Elisabeth. We also hear him mention something about women’s fertility decreasing past the age of twenty-five as if this means anything when you’re casting someone in a TV show.
Feeling existential about being replaced and fading into obscurity, Elisabeth decides to take “The Substance,” a black-market serum that, when injected, creates a younger version of the user. However, the two are still connected as one. After some deliberation, Elisabeth orders and injects the product, a single-use "Activator," causing a younger version of herself to be born from a slit in her back in one of the most uncomfortable scenes I’ve had the pleasure of watching this year.
Margaret Qualley's Sue emerges from this scene. She is the version of Elisabeth, who is “Perfect” and in her prime. Very quickly, Sue replaces Elisabeth in all aspects of her life. Sue goes to auditions and enamors the men who are casting women for these roles. Elisabeth’s workout program is replaced by Sue’s “Pump It Up.” The scenes with Sue embracing her youth and body are erotic but refuse to be sexy. There are many shots where the camera practically gives Margaret Qualley a pap smear while the thinnest of bodysuits and thongs hug her body. Slow motion shots of her bright and youthful red lips drinking a can of Diet Coke, a young man’s hands gripping her behind while she wears a beautiful and tight Catwoman-like jumpsuit. The eroticism in these scenes lends to just as much body horror as any needle prick or shot of blood.
The Substance thematically tackles how we throw away women after they’ve reached a certain age, especially in the entertainment industry. The Substance can be seen as a form of addiction, and how society tells older women they’re only valuable when they look younger. We market anti-aging skincare routines on TikTok to minors whose skin barriers are still forming. And while I’m not anti-botox, it is a shame we tell women that it’s not okay to age. I’m all for personal choice, but we can’t ignore the societal implications that make a woman who’s in her fifties inject herself with botox/dysport so she can look years younger—contrasting this to a few scenes where Elisabeth opens up a parting gift from her scumbag agent/producer, a French cook-book with recipes from the best chefs in the world. The cover of this book shows a man who is no older than Elisabeth, but it could be argued he is slightly overweight, has a receding hairline, and for all intents and purposes, without disparaging the mans looks, definitely is not injecting himself with any substance to look younger/in his prime. Illustrating the valid point that a man can be worshipped and heralded for his accomplishments as opposed to his looks. In contrast, women need to have beautiful looks accompanied by their accomplishments in order to have value to society and the entertainment industry.
What’s even more tragic about this story is Demi Moore’s brave performance - her naked body is on full display. Respectfully, she is a marvel to look at. I would love to have a body and face like Moore does at her age. Sadly, a woman aging as beautifully as she is still feels the need to pursue a more "perfect" version of herself. There’s a moment where she looks at Sue, saying, “You’re the only lovable part of me.” A moment that’s equally horrifying and emotionally tear-inducing.
There comes a point of no return for Elisabeth. Her body ages rapidly and deteriorates from improper use of The Substance. The final scene we see is a bloody mess that is terrifying and at times, even hilarious. In reviewing the tragic part of this story, I couldn’t help but think that what Elisabeth becomes is what our society deserves. When we push our women to these limits that leave a room of privileged rich people screaming and bloody, is the final stage of this process what we deserve? While we can argue she makes no attempt to attack the power structures in place that put these pressures onto women, she’s merely a victim of the context in which she lives.
While our society is still making slow strides to show women their accomplishments are just as significant as men’s, we still have a long way to go. In bloody fashion, The Substance is a brilliant addition to the body horror genre.
-The Substance is currently streaming on Mubi.