The Substance (2024)

"Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself?"

That's not only the tagline for this movie but for the fictional experimental drug which is offer to our main protagonist.  Demi Moore (Ghost, Indecent Proposal) plays Elizabeth Sparkle, a middle-aged actress/fitness guru who has been fired from the TV show she hosts on her 50th birthday.  She feels rejected, cast aside, and fearful of losing more of what made her a star.  And then comes a mysterious invitation to try a black market drug called "The Substance" which offers her a seemingly enticing opportunity to reverse the aging process.....or does it? :o Of course she decides to partake in this experiment and what results is in fact a younger version of herself played by Margaret Qualley (Drive Away Dolls, Poor Things) who names herself Sue.  However based on several specific rules laid out for the titular substance , BOTH versions are not scientifically able to walk and breathe at the same time.  And needless to say as those rules are NOT followed to the T, several complications ensue.....several NASTY complications. 

Winner of the Best Screenplay Award at this year's Cannes Film Festival, this film has received a lot of buzz and acclaim since then.  Directed by Coralie Fargeat as a follow up to her cult hit from 2018 named Revenge, this nutso satirical thriller might be best described as Death Becomes Her meets The Fly meets Requiem for a Dream....NOT for the squeamish. ;) 

Host & Editor: Geoff Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon

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Transcript

THE SUBSTANCE - 2024

Directed by Coralie Fargeat            

Starring Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid, Gore Abrams, Hugo Diego Garcia, and Olivier Raynal.

Genre: Satirical Horror Thriller (Audio clip)

There's no way to sugarcoat it....this is ONE messed up movie! French Director Coralie Fargeat who gave us the dazzling grindhouse revenge thriller titled Revenge (how fitting) six years ago has upped the anti on that EXTREMELY bloody affair by delivering an arguably bloodier morality tale which might be equal parts Death Becomes Her, The Fly, and Requiem For A Dream. And if you think I might be exaggerating a bit....nu-uh, this movie is not shy about delivering pretty spot-on visual references to those movies along with The Thing, Black Swan, and Carrie among several others....

But back to those original three mentioned, yes this is very much a straightforward story focusing on one aging former actress/fitness guru's brutal personal journey involving vanity, addiction, and of course losing control over your body. :o Demi Moore plays this woman named Elizabeth Sparkle in a true go-for-broke performance, even with limited dialogue for extended stretches. Elizabeth is an award-winning actress who now hosts an exercise show and has just been fired from this gig on her 50th birthday. (For the record, Demi is actually 60, still looks amazing, and could easily pass for for below 40....just adding a nice meta-commentary to this story)

She feels brutally cast aside and is frantic about aging and through a couple of bizarre events, is extended a personal invitation to try out an experimental drug known as "The Substance." What this drug treatment promises is the opportunity to create a newer, younger version of yourself.....with some admittedly cumbersome rules involved for upkeep which are NOT for the squeamish. They're almost akin to the Three Rules for Gremlins in that they seem pretty much logistically impossible to follow over time....but Elizabeth still feels that she's up for the challenge and partakes with this substance regardless! ;) 

Elizabeth's younger, spryer version takes the form of Margaret Qualley's (who's also quite good here, playing vacuous VERY well) self-named Sue who admittedly DOES look like a younger Demi Moore. Sue gets a new gig and pretty much becomes an instant sensation....all while having to co-exist with Elizabeth via several needles and tunes which are required to keep them both going concurrently. As you would expect, things don't go exactly as planned and what results is an aggressively stark though exquisitely shot (by DP Benjamin Kracun, who worked on Promising Young Woman a few years ago) journey into somewhat farcical body horror. 

Now....that body horror element is sure to divide audiences and be warned that Fargeat and crew (next-level practical effects lead by Pierre Huguently and Jean Miel) do NOT hold back on it....the last 45 or so minutes of this movie might deliver THE gnarliest display of gore and viscera I have personally seen since Ari Aster's one-two punch of Hereditary and Midsommar from a few years ago. (Though gradually not nearly as ponderous as those two films) It's something to see....AND hear as she did with Revenge, Fargeat's sound effects crew does not skimp on all of the squishy sounds to keep your ears perked up. 😆

Tonally, the intent here SEEMS to be a mixture of the gleefully absurd and the gruesome. However my biggest criticism directed towards all of this might be that while I admired the messaging and certainly the craft involved, I'm honestly not sure that I found most of what transpired on screen to be neither scary NOR witty enough. 🤔 Sorry but this just did not grab me viscerally like the third act of Revenge or overwhelm me with a sense of dread like the wrap-ups for 'Requiem or The Fly....and maybe that's setting the bar a bit too high to be fair. I felt somewhat for Elizabeth as a character but more remotely though through no fault of Demi's. 

Over the second half of the movie and certainly towards the end, I felt a bit confused as to what was motivating her character...maybe I missed something or maybe it was something lacking in Fargeat's screenplay, I just can't be completely sure. Overall, I found this to be an impressive piece of genre filmmaking but I can't say that I loved it.... 

Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film): 

This generally minimalist-sounding film features a pretty minimalist score by British composer/producer Benjamin Stefanski….otherwise known as Raffertie.  I BELIEVE this is his first film score as he has mostly just worked on TV/streaming including the recent John Wick spin-off series “The Continental” which apparently I’m the only who both saw AND liked?  Well his music here is entirely synth-based….high energy pulsating stuff which really only kicks in at a few key points in the story, most notably the closing credits – even though it’s not very consequential to the movie, I quite like it. (Audio clip) 

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film):

Dennis Quaid plays HARVEY, an in-your-face, motor-mouthed, misogynistic TV producer who runs the fitness shows headlined by both Elizabeth and eventually Sue….and he’s admittedly fun to watch in what is likely the closest this story comes to having an actual villain.  He is LITERALLY chewing the scenery off the bat as we watch him aggressively chomping down on shellfish at a restaurant sitting across from Demi’s Elizabeth while he passively aggressively fires her….the camera is continuously closing in on his mouth as he does this and needless to say, it’s QUITE the unpleasant image.  He’s good here but my main issue is that I don’t think Quaid is given enough to do on paper to turn this into a truly memorable character.  Disappointingly, he’s just not in the movie that much and in the end comes off more like the over-the-top cartoonish villain from a ‘90’s comic book movie, only with no real payoff nor resolution for his character. (Audio clip) 

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):

Upon watching this, I increasingly began to realize that I MIGHT not even be the target audience as it at least seems that the more rapturous reviews I have read and/or watched have been from female critics. Which is fine....and I feel like this becomes most  clear during what is likely the film's most effective sequence AND Demi's most bravura acting which occurs about half-way through.  No gore, no real violence….just someone uncomfortable within her own skin.  It’s by far the most relatable and for good reason as this sequence involves the seemingly simple task of getting prepared for a night out…..which we watch Elizabeth do.  It’s actually quite wrenching to watch this beautiful woman have such a struggle with simply accepting how she looks…..IF Demi ends up being nominated and/or maybe even wins any additional awards, it’s going to be because of THIS scene. (Audio clip) 

MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):

As well-directed as this film is and as effective as it is on a technical level, it comes down to the TRULY compelling performance at its core.  Yes the hype is real as Demi is simply phenomenal in this….you can’t take your eyes off of her even at points under GOBS of make-up where it might even be difficult to see much more than just her eyes.  Honestly I feel as if she provides even more depth than the screenplay provides her with – for delivering what I believe is very likely THE best performance of her career, Demi Moore is the MVP. (Audio clip) 

Final Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Sigh…yeah….considering how much I just ADORED Revenge from a few years back, this was definitely among my most anticipated films of this year…..especially after all of the rapturous buzz from the Canne Film Festival back in May where it also won the award for Best Screenplay.  So admittedly I’m a BIT disappointed that it just didn’t grab me more.  Still I would recommend it for anybody who’s looking for something different AND can appreciate effective body horror.   

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And that ends another STABILIZED review!