The Substance Movie Review

With fearless performances from the 2 leads Coralie Fargeat takes a sledgehammer to absurd beauty standards placed on women with amazing bloody mayhem 5 out of 5

A fading celebrity decides to use a black-market drug, a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself. Coralie Fargeat follow up film after Revenge is easily one of the year’s most bold, exciting, thoughtful movies with the last 15 minutes being some of the most batshit insane stuff I have ever seen in any movie ever. She combines influences of David Cronenberg and Stanley Kubrick not just in the body horror but in the cinematography, the camera work, and the production design feels like the shining in the walls and the carpet. The performances from Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley are incredible they are so fearless in the places they are willing to go not just in how big they need to go in some scenes but the vulnerable moments to make you feel their desperation as they experience the consequences of breaking the rules of the substance and their need for peoples love, admiration, and the artificial satisfaction of fame in the immediate present at the expense of their future.

First thing to talk about is the incredible directing job by Coralie Fargeat she has such a clear vison on this story that in the hands of a lesser director would have gone off the rails so many times. The way she mixes Cronenberg body horror with Kubrick like camera work, framing, and production design to tell this story of exploding these absurd beauty standards placed on women makes it feel so fresh unique, and singular to her. Her use of sound design is astounding I never knew someone just eating could be so off putting then when Elizabeth stats experiencing the consequences of breaking the rules of the substance you feel what she feels like your bones are breaking and that’s before any of the body horror starts happening Fargeat has you squirming in your seat then when the body horror does come it is horrific it had my jaw on the floor with the older people who were sitting in my front rows reaction was priceless and why I love the theater experience.

Demi Moore in tantum with Margaret Qualley are astounding in this film with what they are asked to do in this film they are fearless starting with Moore playing a actress who is getting older who is being tossed aside even though she is still beautiful because of the youth obsessed culture she is not afraid to show how that can make feel such self-loathing, self-hatred, with the desperation to hang on to what you’ve had for so many years instead of loving yourself and not putting so much value of what others think of you. The scene that crystalizes this is when Elisabeth(Moore) is getting ready for a date with a old friend from high school who clearly is into her now thinks she’s is so beautiful but keeps changing clothes, messing with her makeup to the point she has a breakdown not a big one but an eternal one it’s so heartbreaking to the point she does not go out at all to just stew in her self-loathing then when Sue(Qualley) starts taking more and more spinal fluid from her to not switch back for long she really conveys her growing resentment towards Sue when she is on a talk show saying nonsense and is snickering at the tv to tell Sue to tell the truth it’s so effective. Qualley is just as good as Sue who is the ideal version who Elizabeth wants to be showing her vulnerability, her confidence, then her greed as she breaks the rules of the substance taking more and more spinal fluid from Elisabeth when she should be switching back to maintain the balance like when Elizabeth almost ends her with a kill shot to end the experience Sue just goes crazy and nearly kills her in blood bath of a fight. Dennis Quad as the third lead of the movie is such a great sleazy scumbag who is named Harvey nice reference Fargreat he is such a horrible person and everything you heard a producer of this ilk to be like and Quad you can tell is having a blast playing this part.

The script by Fargreat is so good its written so well from the dialogue, the world of the film, the rules of the substance, to how the 2 leading ladies are written so well flushed out and 3 dimensional you understand who they are and when they make poor decisions it is understandable in the script. The themes of the film are so clear and explored in depth not just surface level but on a deep human level that I felt powerfully. The last 15 to 20 minutes of the film I think are amazing and I have seen some people say it was too much but I completely disagree everything in the film had been leading to that point and was set up in the script in the escalation as the film went along and in my opinion completely earned it because it’s a physical manifestation of what Elizabeth was feeling inside that had been building throughout the film with the final scene being a great bookend to the beginning.

Technically this film is off the charts starting with the practical makeup and gore effects are amazing they look so different than anything I have seen before so off putting, tactile with so much detail that makes it feel real which makes the horror even more disturbing. In tantum the sound design with those makeup effects is a brilliant combination I have already mention how Quads character just eating shrimp is so gross in this film but when the body horror happens it makes you feeling like your body is suffering the side effects of breaking the rules of the substance like her fingers breaking, her leg needing to snaped back into place just so she can walk, then when Elizabeth switches back with Sue after she took a ridicules amount of her spinal fluid she looks like a monster and how Moore carries herself is amazing the sound of her body falling apart are seared into my brain forever my god. The production design of the film is incredible like the bathroom in the studio look like the overlook in the shining and just magnifies how artificial this world is. The way Fargreat uses framing in this film is very Kubrick like and silence of the lambs with characters staring right into camera or when Quads Character walks into the bathroom the camera in mounted above the stall he is about to use then just waits for him to come and it goes into a close-up that is again so repulsive. The camera work in this film really stands out to me like when Sue is panicking to get more fluid to not suffer the side effects near the end of the movie the tracking shot is so well done and makes you feel like you are with her.

Final thoughts on the film is that it’s one of my favorites of the year with some of the most exciting filmmaking I have seen this year only negative is while I think the finale is great it could have tightened a little bit to get to the final shot of the film but that’s a minor critique please see this film in the theater if you can or when it hits Blu-ray or video on demand. My rating is a 5 out of 5 I love this movie so much.