The Substance

A movie review by Alex First

What price fame? That is the question at the heart of one of the most intense and remarkable films of the year.

The Substance is about physical beauty, adoration, self-love and loathing.

It concerns the lengths to which one will go to remain relevant.

Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) used to be a movie star, before transitioning to hosting a successful morning workout show on TV.

Now middle-aged, her ugly-natured, self-centred, self-serving boss Harvey (Dennis Quade) decides she is dead weight and that her time is up. So, he gives her the heave ho.

Driving home, with the torment associated with that decision reverberating in her mind, Sparkle is involved in a car accident.

Scans reveal no broken bones, but she breaks down in tears.

As she leaves, she is handed a folded piece of paper by one of the medicos containing a USB drive directing her to what is called The Substance.

It is a cell replicating black market drug that offers the promise of a better version of yourself.

Isolated and with no immediate prospects, Sparkle finds it galling that Harvey has placed an ad for an 18 to 30-year-old to replace her.

Throwing caution to the wind, Sparkle makes a call on The Substance, namely that she will give it a go.

A mysterious male voice directs her to a rundown graffiti-riddled backwater.

She picks up a cardboard box containing the necessary ingredients to allegedly restore her youth there.

The instructions are strict and need to be followed to the letter.

They involve a single-use injected activator, followed by a stabiliser and a series of food pouches.

So it is that Sparkle injects herself and after her body contorts and falls limp she “births” her newer, younger, prettier self.

Bizarre though this process is, that is how the perfectly proportioned and turned-out Sue (Margaret Qualley) emerges.

And, of course, she is just what Harvey, the TV producer is looking for.

She is hired to front a new workout show and viewer numbers skyrocket.

Critically important with The Substance though is that Sue and Elisabeth switch back and forth every seven days. Not doing so will have dire, irreversible consequences.

Be that as it may, Sue quickly gets caught up in her own self-importance, while Elisabeth becomes enraged.

Remember, Sue and Elisabeth are two halves of the same whole in what becomes a fight to the death.

The Substance is an incendiary piece of work – a pointed commentary on men, women, societal expectations and the obsession with physical beauty.

Writer and director Coralie Farget (Revenge) continues to push the envelope throughout the picture.

And when you think enough is enough, she does so again and again.

Of course, that is the whole point, to shine a bright line on the saturated world in which we live, where body image is everything.

It marks a superb return to the limelight for Demi Moore, who is outstanding and chilling in her portrayal of the fallen diva, who craves more.

Elisabeth’s alter-ego is well captured by Margaret Qualley, who exudes entitlement.

In a brilliant portrayal, obnoxious narcissism are the hallmarks of Quade’s representation of the television mover and shaker, the man pulling all the strings.

Cinematographer Benjamin Kracun (Promising Young Woman) has vividly captured the contrast between shine and grunge.

He catapults us into the heart of darkness, desperation and despair.

Horrifying but oh-so potent, The Substance is dramatic and traumatic cinema at its best.

Not for the feint-hearted, it holds a mirror up to society, and the image one glances at is deeply disturbing.

Although the movie is a tad long, Farget has established herself as a filmmaker of renown.

 

Rated R, it scores an 8½ out of 10. Runtime 140 mins