The Substance
A Frankenstein monster of self-image, ego, perversion and a history of cinema. In the Substance youth is beauty, and age is an abomination.
Aging star and fitness instructor Elizabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) has reached her prime, when after a significant birthday she is forcefully booted out of her job by her sleazy and slimy boss Harvey played cartoonishly by Dennis Quaid. Elizabeth enters a depressing state when she is told that she has no future with her older looks, and that what is young and attractive is what is going to sell. Desperate to cling on to her stardom and adoration, she is sent a mysterious experimental drug know as ‘The Substance’ which will generate a younger, more beautiful version of Elizabeth in the form of Margaret Qualley’s sensual Sue. After Sue emerges from Elizabeth’s back in horrifying birthing scene, she has the world at her fingertips with the ‘perfect’ body to take on Elizabeth’s old job and become a star. To keep this new version, Elizabeth and Sue need to follow a strict set of rules to keep stable, having seven days each because they are ”ONE”, however a power struggle ensues that leads to gruesome consequences as the balance becomes tipped.
Coralie Fargeat steps things up outrageously from her debut Revenge (2017), with this bold ludicrous body horror that doesn’t know when to stop. Claustrophobic, and imposing wide angle cinematography forces the decadence of the characters and mutations right into your face. Fargeat is not a filmmaker of subtlety and the Substance its straight and easy metaphorical beast pushing its way down your stomach this directing is ferocious at swallowing you in this wild ride, with overbearing crunchy sound design and energetic editing, Fargeat has a sheer talent for escalation. Despite how much The Substance ramps up its extremity especially to its climax, I still pretty much feel the same way about its themes, as I went in, but now I have a gross symbolic point of reference. The extremity reaches so far that the comedy and horror of the piece seem to blur altogether, which meant by the time we come to the deranged climax and the film bursts into a sheer shock and gore fest, there's no way of taking it seriously.
Fargeat is much more self-assured with the film’s gaze, as the worrying exploitative nature of Revenge sometimes hurt itself by objecting the central character a little too much, here the objectifying visuals are more in line with the film’s point, as the camera drips with penetrating shots of Sue, but the viewer is not simply leering, but also seeing Sue’s own gratification and pride for her body.
It's easy to label the film’s feminist industry exploitative system, but the Substance seemed more targeted toward the egotistic nature of Elizabeth as someone so consumed with their person that they can’t live without being adored and celebrated. It’s its tamer moments like Elizabeth wrestling with her own inadequacy where I found the Substance at its most disturbing. A scene where Elizabeth tries to get herself out in the world as herself is threatened by a terrorising billboard of Sue outside her window, making Elizabeth feel unworthy. When these two sides of Elizabeth’s mind are battling is when The Substance feels more haunting. It’s the system of consumerism and perverted studio heads that feed this culture, but Elizabeth still has an indulgent self-worth to herself, and still wants to drink the spoils of her younger self. These moments of real psychological horror are short lived as the film prefers to disturb you with fleshy madness. The tactile make up and prosthetics are effective at making your skin crawl but also a little silly at times. Demi Moore is terrific at balancing these realist tensions and then misemphasising into the physical beast from her own insecurities.
In further direct fashion The Substance pays undisguised references to a history of film, from The Shining, The Fly, Requiem for a Dream, The Thing, Sunset Boulevard, a Herman needle drop that evokes Vertigo, but the one I wasn’t expecting was the ‘Absorboloth’ from Doctor Who. These visual nods are understandable but after a while become to wink wink, and it makes you question whether the film has any leg of its own to stand on.
The Substance delivered more than bargained for in its orgy of bodily mutilation, but for me it lost sight of a longer lasting internal horror of self-esteem but makes up for it in one heck of a freak show.
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