I won’t mince words, this is an uncomfortable watch. There is a lot of body horror here, and you should know that before going to see it. However, if you can stomach it, you will be rewarded with a satirical thriller with a lot to say about the unnatural beauty standards that are placed on women.

They are going to love you

In The Subtance, Demi Moore stars as a washed up actor, Elisabeth Sparkle who learns that her show’s producers are looking to replace her with a younger star. This causes her to take a mysterious product known as The Substance to create a younger version of her. There are some rules here, each version is given 7 days where they are conscious while the other version has to lay unconscious. Things do start going a bit awry when the younger version of Elisabeth, Sue, decides that 7 days is not enough for her. On the one hand you have Elisabeth who wants to reclaim some agency in her life. She is in denial that her days of fame are behind her, and the substance gives her a way to reclaim them. On the other hand you have Sue. Sue is exactly what the tv producers want: young and attractive. Once she gets a taste of the fame and attention, seven days are simply not enough. Sue starts living more than 7 days at a time, sucking the life out of Elisabeth and causing parts of her body to start rapidly aging. It is an effective way to illustrate how you crave youth as you get older, but by doing so you miss out on the present. You become so fixated by this one unattainable goal and you never end up being satisfied with yourself. That is the pressure that society places on women. That is why ultimately Elisabeth cannot bring herself to kill Sue. Even when Sue has taken so much time from Elisabeth and left her old and disfigured, Elisabeth cannot bring herself to killer her. Without Sue she is nothing. Or so she thinks. It is tragic, but the trick of this movie is that while it deals with these tragic themes, it does so with a dark sense of humor. This humor is seen through the over the top dialogue with the male characters, as well as some of the physicality with Elisabeth and Sue. All of this culminates in the last 20 minutes where everything just goes off the rails.

You are one

There’s a few more things I’d like to praise, but I need to talk more about those last 20 minutes. They are a lot. A lot of blood, a lot of body parts, and maybe a lot of nonsense. I don’t quite have a firm read on what went down, but I took it as a bit of a release from the director, Coralie Fargeat. It was her saying “You want us all to look perfect? Here’s what you get”. As a whole the ending dragged on a bit too long for me. I did appreciate the callback to the very beginning of the movie, but at a point I was ready for everything to wrap up. One thing that really stuck out to me about this movie is the sound design. You can feel every single sound, and it really adds to the heightened nature of the movie. Early on, Dennis Quaid is eating this shrimp and swirling it in butter. It was disgusting. The sounds were amplified, the shots were so close up and uncomfortable. It was perfect. And set up the hypocrisy of this pig man lecturing this woman about youth and beauty. The makeup and effects are also great. I haven’t seen body horror this good or convincing since The Fly (1986). And the acting all across the board is fantastic. Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley are the standouts. Moore especially has to go through so many emotions, and even though the movie was becoming increasingly outlandish, it is her performance that kept it grounded.

Closing Remarks

When I first saw this movie I wasn’t sure how quickly I’d want to rewatch it, but upon some reflection I think I am eager for another go. It will be a difficult watch for some. Perhaps for the messaging if you’re an old fashioned misogynist, or for the gore if you’re a bit squeamish. What I can guarantee is that writer/director Coralie Fargeat has cooked up an experience unlike any other, and that is certainly worth a watch.

Starring – Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid.

Director – Coralie Fargeat

Runtime – 2h 21m

Rating – R