THE SUBSTANCE (2024)

Film: I watched this film for the first time a few days before Demi Moore received her well deserved Golden Globe award, and honestly I was stunned by the film I saw. The film had received a shedload of buzz and I was excited to watch and did I think it deserved the buzz? Well not to bury my wishy-washy lead, but yes and no.

Mostly yes.

The Substance was written and directed by Coralie Fargeat, who also wrote and directed 2017’s Revenge, which I faintly remember watching and thinking it was a solid film… I need to revisit it, for sure.

The Substance tells of Elizabeth Sparkles (Demi Moore) who lives in a world where aerobics TV shows are still airing, and hers has existed for years, but she’s getting older and ratings are dropping, so the TV executive Harvey (Dennis Quaid) gives her the golden handshake.

On her way home after being fired, and on her birthday, I should add, she is involved in a car accident and is handed a USB stick by someone at the hospital that says ‘The Substance’ on one side, and has a phone number on the other.

The video on the USB stick shows a product that can make a person young again, and in desperation, she orders the product and is issued a card with an address where she goes and picks up a box.

The box contains a bunch of medical equipment and instructions telling her how to execute a program that begins with injecting a green reagent, that causes a fresh, new version of herself, who names herself Sue (Margaret Qualley), to be able to exist independent of her. The thing is though, the young version can only exist for seven days whilst the ‘original’ is passed out and is fed on a drip, and every day Sue has to inject herself with spinal fluid from Elizabeth.

These two people share a mind and eventually Sue becomes addicted to being young, and starts to ignore the seven day rule, but these has dramatic effects on Elizabeth… and when you are the same person in two bodies competing for existence, things are bound to become… well, difficult…

For starters, before I discuss the performances of the film, I must say how much I admire the visual design and the cinematography of this film. The contrast of Elizabeth’s and Sue’s vibrant colourful but artificial entertainment world to the emotionless reality of her apartment, to the even further clinical world of The Substance, reflected in a starkness of both the collection spot and the bathroom where all the ritual is committed. The bright yellow that’s used as a sign of rebirth (though I’m not sure how accurate the science of the yolk splitting in the opening is very accurate… isn’t the yolk the food for the chicken that develops in the albumen? Never let scientific fact get in the way of a good visual, I guess) is so striking amongst the whole experience and is such an amazing yellow that is such a great image… I’ll never look at a raincoat the same way again!

There’s is so much amazing background stuff happening that you don’t notice on first watch. Sue’s back up dancers are young and vital and sexy, whereas Lizzie’s may have been with her from the start, and are showing their… wear and tear, shall we say. Make sure you watch this more than once for these background bits and pieces.

Every set piece is a lecture in perspective and cinematographic design. I really cannot express my love of the look of this film.

As for the performances: wow! Moore plays the world-weary, beaten down and done professional so well one almost wonders how much of it was acting. She nails both the ability to put on a show, the loneliness of fame and the desperation some may have to hold onto their fame. Next is Margaret Qualley as Sue, who plays the coquettish newcomer with devilish charm and devious resolve. She is fantastic as the new ‘Elizabeth’, taking advantage of her youth, and ignoring the rules of The Substance like the very best selfish brat. Finally, Dennis Quaid as the sleazy Harvey is easily the most disgusting thing in this film, in his attitude towards Lizzie as she hits the end of her career, his lecherous approach of Sue and even more repulsive is the way he eats shrimp.

There’s a lot of gross stuff in this film but his consumption of food at a dinner is stunningly awful, both in performance and the extreme close up.

The first two acts of this film are primo cinema. Beautiful in execution, amazing performances and with a totally satisfactory set up and mis point. The ending is satisfactory except it’s far too long. I do appreciate though that a film that is so clinical in its first two acts becomes like a nightmare of Hennenlotter proportions. The way that Elizabeth/ Sue ends up is a magnificent and tragic thing, but it just goes on and on and on. For me, if not for its saggy ending, this film would have been a ten out of ten, but it just needed a trim in the editing to tie it up a bit quicker, and I say this with no intention of belittling how marvellous I think the rest of the film is.

Extras:

Reality+ is a short film by Fargeat which riffs on things like the film Surrogates starring Bruce Willis and like The Substance, is about self-image and technology removing identity but unlike the film, this has a quaint romantic angle to it that is projected quite early on but is still satisfying in its resolve. Like The Substance it’s beautifully shot and a great precursor to The Substance to the point that the film is almost a remake of the ideals presented in this short.

There is a trailer for The Substance, as well as others for Megopolis, The Apprentice, Anatomy of a Fall and Blood for Dust.

Film: 9/10

Extras: 9/10

Rewatchability: 8/10

This film was reviewed with the Bluray release purchased from JB Hifi