The 2024 experimental body horror film, The Substance, is a perfect example of a movie taking a risk and being rewarded for it, even if it comes with a few caveats. Being an international co-production  distributed by the small streaming platform, MUBI, The Substance wasn’t huge right out of the gate, but after succeeding in the festival space (even winning Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival) and exploding on social media, it has emerged as that avant-garde feature that appears to present a emotionally distressing but relevant story about an aging actress trying to reclaim her vigor and public adoration by taking a drug that births a more ‘’perfected’’ version of herself, but delivers it in a way that is shocking, graphic and very unapologetic. Though this unfiltered presentation did result in a few mixed opinions, the overall response was pretty positive, becoming MUBI’s highest grossing film and earned favor with the Academy through some meaningful Oscar nominations (including Best Picture, Screenplay and Actress), allowing this obscure, icky, but wildly unforgettable flick the chance to shine in the Hollywood spotlight. After reaching her 50th birthday, former Hollywood star, Elizabeth Sparkle (played by Demi Moore) is told by sleazy TV producer, Harvey (played by Dennis Quaid) that she is being let go from her aerobics TV show due to her age. Now having nothing to do but dwell on the past, Elizabeth learns about a revolutionary serum being sold on the black market called The Substance which has the power to create a newer version of yourself, one that is significantly younger and houses no flaws. With the stipulation that both original and copy need to remain alive and must switch on a weekly basis, Elizabeth hesitantly but eventually takes the drug and creates Sue (played by Margaret Qualley), who picks up Elizabeth’s lost stardom and quickly becomes the next big thing in Hollywood. Despite following the steps at first, the two personalities start to detest the other, with Elizabeth hating Sue for her recklessly flippant and disrespectful behavior, and Sue hating Elizabeth for her slobby eating habits, reclusive lifestyle and less-attractive appearance. As Sue starts to become the dominant identity (leaving Elizabeth a motionless husk being milked of spinal fluid to retain Sue’s beauty), this literal split in personality has resulted in a complicated mess, which will only worsen the more they exist apart. Though the film is about as subtle as a hammer to the head and probably could’ve used more context to build a properly formed beast, the movie is still electrically unique with prominent direction, a great premise, and very energized performances.

In spite of many people praising this movie for its ground-breaking look at women in the entertainment spaces, themes about gender discrimination and double standards regarding aging and appearance have been explored before through multiple films, so it’s more appropriate to credit its unique attributes rather than call the whole idea untouched. With that said, this is a pretty great premise, with the topics of beauty standards, toxic viewpoints and media coverage poisoning how one looks at themselves regardless of their actual true beauty, pairing quite nicely with the genre of body horror, with processes like plastic surgery, beauty injections and other body reforming techniques already doing the job of altering someone’s appearance to the point where they can look greatly unnatural. With the genre not really tackling a female perspective on a mainstream level, a stylish presentation that feels clicked in with the modern zeitgeist, clear commentary that prominently exudes from the script and visuals, and housing two powerhouse performers in Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley (themselves a representation of the old and new talent in the industry), it has all the right ingredients to work for casual moviegoers and cinephiles. This strong tooling seems to come from the director and screenwriter, Coralie Fargeat, who after the strong success of her 2017 French-language film, Revenge, created this movie after reflecting on her own personal grips with the industry, resulting in a visceral film that feels pretty personal and acted more on emotion than detail. With this in mind, it highlights one of the key dilemmas this film struggles with, that being its decision to limit the dialogue and focus more on visual cues and actor expressions to present backstory and internal issues rather than spoken word. Fargeat is a pretty solid director who is able to bring the most of this idea in a frenzied, trippy and modernized fashion while still feeling mostly timeless, and the film’s more bizarre, quirky attitude helps it stand apart from other body horror as well as just horror in general, but there are times when it feels like the story and characters lack a sense of weight underneath the bucket load of cheese and commentary drenched over its entire production. The film’s is almost laughably in-your-face about all of its symbolism and metaphors, all the characters act like cartoons, and the ending goes full-on crazy in a way that you wouldn’t normally see in a movie getting such high critical praise, so while the premise is great, the actual script could’ve ironically used a little more ”substance”. While these faults might be debilitating to some, they ironically help the film feel more distinct. The visual metaphors are blatant, but effective none the less, the supporting actors are very hammy and not always the most believable, but the main performers are treated pretty stably and leave strong impressions, and even though the ending does go pretty extreme, the fact that it presents something so absurd with no regret is honestly pretty admirable, and proves that it believes and has the utmost faith it what it’s delivering.

This movie got a lot of attention when Demi Moore was cast as the lead, with the fact that her character is a once-loved Hollywood star struggling with being left behind, clearly being noticed by audience members who got the parallels. Being a huge star during the 80s and early 90s before plummeting with no major appearances, Moore’s pedigree as a performer, while not top tier, undoubtedly helped influence her performance in this, which many believe is some of her strongest work. While she certainly does a great job (especially when she gets more and more deformed and manic from using the substance) and a particular scene where she’s getting ready for a date is where all the Oscar buzz is coming from, she strangely isn’t in the film that much, with Qualley taking centre stage for a good chunk of the film. Thankfully, she is also quite strong, being able to bring a sultry and ‘’camera-drawing’’ touch that nicely contrasts with Moore’s more subdued and humanely vulnerable delivery, with both shining the brightest whenever they just have to express (which both are forced to do a lot due to the minimal dialogue and the multiple layers of make-up both had to endure). Sadly, one of the drawbacks of Fargeat’s visual storytelling is that some things are left to the wayside when they aren’t crucial to the plot, with Elizabeth Sparkle’s history and overall identity being a prime example of this, and because the character lacks a lot of contextualization, it leaves her feeling a little flat as a character. Rather than being a person who the audience can identify with, Elizabeth is supposed to be a mold the movie can speak its message through (as are a lot of the characters in this film) and while Moore really shows her strengths as a performer, the character isn’t what makes her memorable. This issue only stops being a major problem when Qualley enters the pictures, as being able to interpret the mental state of this woman through both of these contrasting personalities is pretty interesting, and since this portion is most of the movie, it does balance out come the end. Most of the supporting actors aren’t incredibly strong as the hoaky direction and brisk screenplay leaves them with no strong assist, which can lead to some background roles coming across as pretty annoying. The only one who avoids this is Dennis Quaid, as despite being extremely over-the-top and playing such a stereotypical sleazy movie producer with lines you’ve heard a thousand times before in other movies, he goes so hard into this silly delivery that it’s kind of amazing to watch even if it’s debatable whether it’s good.

The movie used an extensive amount of make-up and effects work during production, with a lot of attention being put on the various deformed stages the lead takes on with each use of the drug, and it is all absolutely glorious. While the film as a whole does have some blemishes in regard to its scripting, the areas it goes to with the body horror and how it shows it off, is one of the most impressive and visual grabbing spectacles that has been seen in a while. Being a film that has nothing to do with Hollywood (Universal was originally set to distribute, but back out after disagreeing with some of the film’s commentary), this removal from the system allowed it the freedom to go all the way with some of its ideas, and the different deformed monstrosities that come from this drug are like something right out of The Elephant Man or The Fly, but never feel like a blatant rip-off and feel like a perfect homunculus exemplar of its message. Being overseen by Pierre-Olivier Persin, these make-up effects are grotesque, gooey in all the right ways, and are visually unforgettable, allowing the staggering shock of their horrific designs to sink in as long as possible as the film doesn’t just cut away and leaves them on-screen for longer than you’d expect. It really gives the film an identity, as without this body horror element, it wouldn’t be that dissimilar to other stories that have the same commentary. The overall aesthetic of the film certainly helps as well, featuring a strange look that comes from its anti-Hollywood presentation, and even if it might be a little off, it elevates the project’s strengths rather than diminishes them. The production design by Stanislas Reydellet has a Stanley Kubrick quality to it that makes everything feel disorienting and dream-like, further emphasized by the cinematography by Benjamin Kračun which makes all these locations feel wide-open and exposing but simultaneously cramped and claustrophobic through fish-eye lens and warped viewpoints. This disorienting and uncomfortably close-quarters view into this macabre self-destructive story is nicely contrasted by the glitzy, heavily digitized, and ”music video” styled moments that feel equally as intrusive (lot of butt shots) but never feel exploitative or lacking purpose. The musical score by British composer, Raffertie, is also pretty good, bringing a techno edge to the music that makes the picture feel clinical and inhuman, it works very well with the rest of the film.

The Substance has spots and wrinkles but retains an authentic inner soul that in spite of any oddities, deserves to remain in the spotlight. It’s nice to see a small-budgeted body horror film doing so well with the Oscars (who notoriously hate horror flicks), and whether or not it wins, it has developed a fan base who will respect and appreciate it even if the industry doesn’t, and that is truly all that matters. If the film had fleshed out more of its characters and wasn’t so engrossed in its style and randomness to construct a more thorough screenplay, it honestly could’ve been a game-changer, but as it is, it’s a movie that is well performed by its leads, colorfully designed, and passionately directed. There are a lot of Hollywood films that might have stronger scripts but are played and delivered in a very safe way, whilst The Substance may have a few more flaws, but is so determined to take off the safety belt and go crazy that it’ll never be forgotten even by those who don’t like it, and that is definitely worth respecting.

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