Beauty. Blood. Body horror. The Substance has it all, and filmmaker Coralie Fargeat presents her darkly comedic look at the lengths some will go to regain their youthful beauty in the most disturbingly unhinged manner… and that’s why this movie is incredible.
In an unexpected genre turn for Demi Moore, who is perfect stunt casting as the fading, 50-ish year old fitness celebrity Elisabeth Sparkle, The Substance follows Sparkle as she is forcibly removed from her long-running, latex-wearing workout show by the misogynistic, grotesque network head (and appropriately named), Harvey, played with fantastically insane energy by Dennis Quaid.
With Harvey openly looking to cast a much younger, sexier woman for the show, a unique opportunity arises for Sparkle to use a black market drug called The Substance that replicates her cells, with her body serving as “The Matrix”, to create a younger version of herself, “The Other”, Sue (Margaret Qualley).
Having to abide by a strict rule of spending 7 days as The Other before switching back to Elisabeth for her cells to regenerate, Sue becomes obsessed with the fame that her beauty and sex appeal has garnered, leading to her pushing the limits of what The Substance can do if the rules aren’t followed.
Every element of Fargeat’s filmmaking style in The Substance is the definition of unhinged. It’s stylistically unhinged with vibrant, dynamic cinematography and a colourfully explosive aesthetic. There are shots where characters often look down the barrel of a wide-lens camera, with crazy-eyed conversations that add to the heightened feeling of this wild ride. The manic nature of how Fargeat moves the camera around scenes and the frenetic editing that goes along with it makes for such an engaging visual experience.
The performances across the board are also perfectly unhinged. Moore grasps on to the desperation of retaining youth and beauty with such dramatic authenticity, but never at the expense of her understanding of this heightened satirical tone, of which she also leans into the comedy incredibly well. Qualley is absolutely serving in this film, bringing such a tenacious and mean-spirited quality to Sue, whilst also leaning into the wildness of Sue’s antics.
But, the most unexpected standout is Dennis Quaid as Harvey, who in a way he has never done on screen before, gives one of the most over-the-top, disgusting (the prawn eating scene solidifies this), and perverted performances that epitomises the detrimental psychology of how Hollywood treats women, often using them as sex objects for ratings, and disregarding them once they reach their “use by date”.
Balancing the tone of dark comedy and truly off-putting body horror, Fargeat’s exploration into industry beauty standards and the psychological determinants of the unhealthy pursuit of that beauty doesn’t break any new ground in media that has brought these themes to light before, but it’s Fargeat’s unique approach in the horror genre and utilising some of the most grotesque, wild, and disturbing imagery to really hammer home her point, while managing to hold a truly hilarious tone from the satisfyingly wicked opening and closing scenes.
The Substance will not be for everyone, specifically pushing away those who don’t have the stomach for some truly toe-curling body horror (and a lot of needle usage throughout), but Fargeat’s unhinged approach to a tale about the insane pursuit of youth, along with boldly entertaining performances from Moore (in one of her best roles to date), Qualley, and the wildly hilarious Quaid, makes this film one not to miss, and will have audiences talking about it’s insane final 30 minutes for a long time to come.
The Substance is currently screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival, and will release in Australian cinemas nationwide on September 19 courtesy of Madman Films.
