#131: The Substance
Release Date: September 20th, 2024
Format: Theater (Regal Edwards in Long Beach, CA)
Written by: Coralie Fargeat
Directed by: Coralie Fargeat
4 Stars
The Substance is a juggernaut and my favorite film of 2024.
Demi Moore plays fading film star Elisabeth Sparkle, who hears of a radical procedure in which she can inject herself with a fluid (the titular Substance) that will cause her to split into two separate physical bodies. One of the bodies will be her original, middle-aged body, but the new body will be youthful, vibrant, and hyper attractive.
It’s a fun, creative body horror idea from French writer/director Coralie Fargeat that allows her to playfully (and ghastly) mine the rich history of the genre. I noticed allusions to Basket Case, Total Recall, Nightmare on Elm Street, Carrie, The Fly, and Black Swan, to name a few. And you can tell she’s having a ball playing in this world, despite the fact that as a woman in her late forties, I imagine there is a connection between her and her protagonist, Elisabeth Sparkle.
To what degree Fargeat identifies with the themes of the fear of aging and losing sexual prowess I don’t know, but I found her film to be brave. If women are supposed to politely accept the inevitable reality of aging with grace, behind closed doors and in their own heads, here’s an artistic statement that bares all. Not only is Fargeat going to tackle this material head-on, she’s going to put her protagonists through all manner of embarrassment and shame and honesty along the way. Kudos to her brave leads, Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, for sharing Fargeat’s bravery.
As Elisabeth Sparkle, Demi Moore must survive in front of Fargeat’s unflinching camera lens, shot clearly from a female’s hypercritical perspective. We see her fully nude body under fluorescent bathroom lighting, a beautiful woman in her fifties, but does that matter? We’re in the realm of body horror, where there is no such thing as a minor imperfection. Anything may be, and in fact probably is, a sign of impending awfulness. The camera callously regards her face and body, seemingly telling her that any day now her teeth and hair will probably fall out of her head, that her breasts will hang pendulously to her waist, that her skin will spot, and that her joints will calcify.
I was also amazed at the bravery of Margaret Qualley’s performance, who in contrast to Moore, must survive Fargeat’s camera’s male perspective, which is just as reductivist. Her character, Sue, is leered at by the camera, with pans and zooms and dollies that present her as little more than ass and tits and hips and thighs. But Qualley’s performance never shows a shred of self-doubt. Her Sue is empowered, and why shouldn’t she be? She’s rising quickly in the entertainment industry, gladly cashing in on her confident sexuality.
Which leads to the final act of the film. It has to be seen to be believed. It’s a grotesquely beautiful summation of these two women, who once again become one. It has a name, “Monstro Elisasue.” That’s all I’ll say.
As for Coralie Fargeat, I’ll say her film The Substance is an immediate body horror classic and the best film of 2024.
