Review of The Substance, directed by Coralie Fargeat

For those of you who stumbled upon this website through the mysterious magical powers of the Internet, welcome! My name is Ashley, and I started this website to keep track of and archive all of the kinds of movies, books, and television shows I’ve come across in the years.

I used to work as a professional film and television critic at an online outlet, but because I wasn’t focusing on the kinds of films I wanted to, I eventually left that job behind in order to pursue other ventures. That’s how I ended up focusing on this blog a bit more, then I temporarily entered an unemployed blip that was unexpected while on this journey, so I had even more time to write about the movies I’ve seen while I was job hunting.

So back when I was working as a critic I used to be on top of all of the new releases, which meant that I was basically only watching the latest and greatest. As you can imagine, this led to quite the burnout, especially after I was going to the film festivals and watching up to four films in a single day. I loved this life I was living, but it got to be too much after a while.

For some time I wasn’t keeping up with the new releases and physically seeing them after I left my post as a critic, but I knew about everything going on in the mean time. I just wasn’t watching them, even though some of the newest films on the scene were ones that I knew I would be interested in seeing eventually.

Well, now that I’m unemployed, I decided to catch up on all of the films while in-between jobs. The Substance was on my list, but I was really keeping an eye on the streaming subscriptions I had. They can get really expensive and add up when you have multiple, so I try not to stack up whenever possible. When MUBI sent me an email about three months for $1, I decided it was time to finally get onto that and see the movie.

Let’s get into the review! I don’t want to ramble too much, as I know introductions can get quite long, and we’re not here for the context.

A woman, looking for capturing the youth she once saw as true beauty, takes a new drug/substance, which splits her into two people.

This is very much a body horror movie, so if you can’t watch the abject aspects of this movie, I really don’t think you might make it to the end. We begin in the past, when Hollywood actress Elisabeth Sparkle is on top of her career and won an Academy Award. We see time pass through her Hollywood Star, and now she’s 50.

Elisabeth is not happy about the fact she’s aging, especially when she’s dismissed from her fitness show for being too old. The producer Harvey is a bit of a stereotypical Hollywood douche played up to the max, and he even has some disgusting scenes eating shrimp and making sexist comments. Elisabeth is on the edge when she sees a billboard of her being taken down, and she hears from a nurse about something called “The Substance.”

It will be able to create a young and perfect version of one’s self, and Elisabeth wants it. She injects herself with the liquid, then another body comes out of her back. It’s a young, beautiful, naked woman that will live as her every seven days, and then they will switch. To keep themselves alive, they have to inject each other with stabilizer fluid, lest they both fall apart.

The new version of Elisabeth names herself Sue, and takes Elisabeth’s old job on the fitness show. She becomes a sensation with audiences across America, while Elisabeth, having her turn to live, becomes someone who never leaves the house and begins binge eating.

While Elisabeth is eating an entire chicken by herself and so much more, Sue is out there making connections. The two end up hating each other. Elisabeth resents Sue for taking everything she perceives as her own from her, and having the youth and beauty, while Sue hates Elisabeth because she’s old and isn’t a productive human being anymore.

Sue doesn’t switch back properly on time either, which rapidly ages Elisabeth. She makes the executive decision to get rid of Sue with substance’s termination liquid, but Sue catches on and kills the now elderly and falling apart Elisabeth. This is right before her big break with the New Year show, but then Sue begins falling apart.

Sue runs back home to inject herself with more Substance, ignoring the use once label, and turns into Monstro Elisasue, which is a fusion of the two in the most horrific way. She goes back to the television studio for the show.

Those last few scenes are quite symbolic as the the monstrous version envisions people clapping and telling her that she’s beautiful and where she belongs, but no one is actually there when she’s lost all of what she perceives as beauty. So much loaded commentary, especially when Harvey tells his gross buddies she’s his most beautiful creation.

Sue and Elisabeth are indeed his creation, but when they go on stage, people are horrified at what they’re seeing in front of them and declare them a monster. They try to kill her, but another head regenerates, and blood shoots out everywhere from the body. They flee from the scene and fall apart on the sidewalk, and Elisabeth’s original face detaches.

She manages to get herself to her Hollywood Star, imagines people admiring her, then melts into blood on the star. The next day, all the blood is cleaned up by a worker.

Overall Thoughts

I’ve watched quite a few body horror movies back in my day, but I found this one interesting because of how it twists Hollywood. It reminds me of a contemporary horror based Sunset Boulevard, which is why Demi Moore is getting so much praise. She’s taking a larger than life character like Norma Desmond and desperately trying to cling onto the life she once had as a famous actress.

Demi Moore is the standout, although the actor who plays Harvey, Dennis Quaid, does an excellent job of just being a terrible and sexist person. The script also flows really well, and it makes you uncomfortable beyond the horror elements.

I don’t know if I’ll return to this film in the near future, but I enjoyed watching it. There’s a lot to take away from movies like these beyond the horror elements, especially when it comes to how women in media are sexualized and seen solely for their bodies and sex appeal. Sue feeds into that side of Elisabeth, which is why she comes to resent her so much.

All of this is to say go watch it if you have some free time and haven’t seen it already. It might make a sick Friday night movie if you want to stay in!

Follow me below on Instagram and Goodreads for more.