Film Review - The Substance (2024)

In a morbid tale of grappling with the revolving door of ageism in Hollywood, Demi Moore takes centre stage. Her character, Elisabeth Sparkle, was once an award winner who earned a coveted spot on the Walk of Fame. These days, she’s been cast out to the realm of televised exercise workouts, with the all-male board of network executives growing tired of her. Sparkle can tell she’s lost her shimmer, if you will, leading her down an even darker path of destruction. There’s not much else you can do if you’re at war with yourself.

A trip to the doctor’s office after being in a car accident introduces her to the vague company known as “The Substance,” promising the concept of giving you a “better version of yourself.” It feels no different than social media ads for random companies trying to sell Botox or extensive surgeries, trying to lure targeted audiences in. She caves, willing to do whatever it takes to regain a sense of control. Elisabeth is the original, or the “Matrix” specifically, and in a genuinely spine crawling turn, Margaret Qualley appears as the younger, more marketable Sue. The catch? Each person can only exist for seven days, before having to swap places again. As expected, things start to go downhill when Sue stops following the rules and develops a disdain for her counterpart.

Director Coralie Fargeat drew visual inspiration from films like The Shining to craft her unique world and commentary. There’s a certain appealing style, with pops of colour, large intense fonts, and fast-paced editing that pulls you into her body horror/thriller. As for the rest of the film’s run, Elisabeth is a very heartbreaking character to watch. Despite being told she’s still so beautiful, she feels the need to change, falling victim to societal messaging toward older women. When the substance’s misuse proves to be destroying her own body, she refuses to quit the experiment. Instead, she turns down a date and spends her time stuck in front of a television screen. If you could, you would shake her and tell her to stop, but she lives alone, with no clear friends, family, or loved ones to come to her rescue. She is trapped in the mansion and the spiral of her own making, with the only face looking back at her being Sue’s on a giant haunting billboard outside the window.

Elisabeth and Sue’s building tension culminates in a brutal fight, with the latter ultimately destroying her original self for good. Sue is a spin on Frankenstein if the monster was a gorgeous celebrity with a New Year’s Eve show to host. However, her decision to ignore the rules once again affects her just the same, leaving her scrambling for a solution. Time caught up for her even quicker than it did for Elisabeth.

For viewers looking for subtlety, this is not the case with this film. Fargeat makes it clear with the level of body destruction and shaping that she wants to drive her message home. Could this have been a very different film, simply in terms of the way it presents the messaging? Absolutely. The audiences at a recent screening opted to laugh a lot more during the film’s second half, even if Sparkle’s destruction and ultimate downfall isn’t funny in the slightest. If any part does feel worthy of some laughs, it is the comedic yet terrifying ending that finds Elisabeth and Sue gruesomely joining forces in a sequence that needs to be seen to be believed. What a Happy New Year, indeed.