The Substance – Film Review
Reviewed by Harris Dang on the 19th September 2024
Madman Films presents a film by Coralie Fargeat
Produced by Coralie Fargeat, Tim Bevan, and Eric Fellner
Starring Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, and Dennis Quaid
Running Time: 140 minutes
Rating: R18+
Release Date: the 19th September 2024
The Substance tells the story of dwindling Hollywood star Elisabeth Sparkles (Demi Moore). Once in the spotlight of stardom and fame, she is now in her supposed twilight years as the host of a popular television aerobics show. On her 50th birthday, she is fired from her show. To make matters worse, she suffers a traumatic car accident after seeing her billboard get taken down. But in the time of crisis can also come a time for opportunity.
At the hospital, in which she has sustained no injuries from the accident, a young nurse discreetly hands Elisabeth a flash drive labelled “The Substance”. It advertises an experimental serum that when injected creates a younger, more attractive “perfect” version of the user. The two entities existing as one. Feeling a huge bout of depression over her lost youth and purpose, she accepts the offer. But little does she know that her youthful self is more challenging than she imagined.
The Substance is the sophomore effort from acclaimed French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat. She is best known for her feature-length directorial debut Revenge (2017). With a striking directorial eye, expressionistic storytelling and a macabre sense of humour infused with topical themes, Fargeat’s next effort was long-awaited. With Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, and Dennis Quaid in tow, will The Substance overcome the sophomore slump?
Much like in Revenge, Fargeat creates striking images of stark beauty that complement the grisly violence, the genre subversiveness, and the dark comedy. But in the case of The Substance, overstatement and excess is the name of the game. Fargeat takes her directorial skills to new heights as she conveys the mundane, normality, and peculiarity of human behaviour with a jolt of adrenaline.
With the unruly use of the camera (by Promising Young Woman cinematographer Benjamin Kracun), the propulsive score by Raffertie, and the frenetic editing (by Fargeat and repeat collaborators Jerome Eltabet and Valentin Feron), including extreme close ups, wide-shots, crash zooms, Dutch angles, slow-motion, and many other cinematic choices, the cinematic panache injects a felt amount of energy that makes the wild tone shifts and story points palatable and enjoyable. But thankfully, the style is not for the sake of bells and whistles. The style here is employed to weaponise its shots against the grossness of the male gaze as well as convey the turmoils women face with self-esteem, body image, and beauty standards with no shame, subtlety or insincerity.
It is all held together by Demi Moore’s masterful performance as Elisabeth Sparkles. Moore is best known for performances that are forceful and to a lesser extent, vulnerable. In the case of The Substance, Fargeat gives Moore ample room to show her acting chops that encapsulates everything that made Moore an acting icon as well as showcase acting chops that we rarely see from Moore. Her bouts of anger and resentment toward herself are genuinely engaging in a figurative sense and hilariously dark in a literal sense. But it is her moments of anxiety and crippling depression midway through the film that makes Moore an amazing actress. Having Moore in layers upon layers of extensive make-up effects (led by the brilliant CLSFX Atelier 69 studio that have worked on films like Titane and Smoking Causes Coughing) in the transformation of body horror is just tasty icing on the cake.
But that is not to say that even with the topical and dramatic themes on display, Fargeat is not afraid to have fun with the ridiculousness of the premise. Alongside her striking style and expressionistic storytelling, her proclivity for genre references proves wildly effective, complete with nods to classic literature like The Picture of Dorian Gray, classic cinema like Sunset Boulevard (1950), to ‘70s transgressive cinema like Troma Entertainment, and ‘80s pop culture through Jane Fonda’s Workout.
Adding to the exhilaration, the supporting performances up the ante. Margaret Qualley continues her wonderful string of work in the role of Young Elisabeth Sparkle. Being no stranger to showcasing physicality and vivacity to her performances, her work highlights the impulsiveness and cunning of the character with verve as she makes her world her oyster. And of course, the presence of Dennis Quaid proves wonderfully weird, repulsive, and outrageously funny. Whether he masticates so much shrimp that the ocean called to say that they are running out or he is squeezing the lemon while answering a phone call with loud bombast about terminating an employee, Quaid takes his role and makes a feast out of it.
In terms of its flaws, the third act is a wild turn in its storytelling that it may deter some audiences due to its audacity. And the blatant storytelling in conveying its themes may prove patronising to those expecting subtlety and nuance in its messaging. The final nail is the fact that the film does not necessarily provide food-for-thought in its arguments over its themes, making The Substance feel superficial in the process. Arguably, that may be Fargeat’s point of her film. The egregious lack of engagement in what is wrong with what we see in a patriarchal and meretricious society.
Overall, The Substance is a shot of cinematic horror energy that proves amazingly exhilarating, wonderfully bonkers, and operatically bloody. It goes to show Coralie Fargeat is a formidable voice in horror and a reminder that Demi Moore is still a shining star that never left us.
Summary: A shot of cinematic horror energy that proves amazingly exhilarating, wonderfully bonkers, and operatically bloody.
5
Excellent
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