The Doctor’s Diagnosis: B
I had no idea what to expect going into this movie, which is fitting since I couldn’t have possibly predicted how bonkers it is. The Substance is a balls-to-the-wall, batshit crazy, Cronenberg-esque extravaganza of body horror. It’s a bit too long and the social commentary has the subtlety of Cannibal Corpse lyrics, but it is one of the most bizarre, graphic and entertaining movies to make it to theaters in recent memory. I emphasize “bizarre,” though, because this movie is not for everyone. I hesitate to recommend it, especially if you didn’t know what I meant by “Cronenberg-esque,” but fans of visceral horror should at least be entertained.
Demi Moore stars as Elisabeth, an aging television star. On her 50th birthday, she is fired from her job hosting an aerobics TV show by a sleazy network executive played by Dennis Quaid. She learns of a product called The Substance that allows you to create a younger version of yourself, but it comes with a few caveats. Well, many caveats, really. Once you have taken The Substance, your younger version will spawn out of your body and leave your older self in a sort of coma for one week. After a week, the younger version must switch back with the older version, thus putting the young one in a coma. If the switch doesn’t happen in seven days, the comatose version will start aging rapidly. Additionally, the young version needs booster shots extracted from the spine of the older version.
Despite having more red flags than a prison courtyard, Elisabeth proceeds with The Substance and creates her younger self, played by Margaret Qualley (who, interestingly, is the daughter of actress Andie MacDowell, who used to date Dennis Quaid). At first, the plan works perfectly. The beautiful Qualley takes television by storm and gets her old job back hosting the aerobics show. However, things start to go awry when the young version starts enjoying her life too much and begins extending her time beyond the 1-week window, with increasingly horrifying consequences for her older self.
Demi Moore deserves an Oscar nomination for this movie. She probably won’t get it, but she deserves it. I hesitate to call a performance “brave” because 1. It has become a cliché and 2. Some people have hijacked the word “brave” to simply refer to people that they agree with. But the word is unavoidable here; this is a fucking brave performance. Moore is 61 years old (even though her character is supposed to be 50) and she is completely nude for long stretches of this film. Granted, Moore still looks amazing and could pass for being in her 40s, but credit must be given for putting herself out there like that. Her grief and psychological deterioration in this film, from scenes of graphic gore to quiet character moments of somber reflection, are easily some of the best work of her career. This material could have been taken much less seriously, but she is treating this like awards-season material and the resulting contrast with the film’s more campy and over-the-top elements makes this one of the most memorable performances in years.
Margaret Qualley is also excellent. She has even more nude scenes than Moore (and more on that in a minute), but her performance of youthful exuberance, selfishness and irresponsibility is in direct contrast to her older self. Her increasing ability to use her sexuality as a tool, in both subtle and overt ways, weighs upon her need to switch back to her older self. The battle between the old yearning for youth and the young disregarding the old becomes an increasingly central theme as the two versions of Elisabeth gradually become rivals for time. The older version increasingly spends her days drinking and eating alone in a dark room, waiting for her time to be young again. The young version selfishly cares increasingly little about the older version. It becomes a collision course as young and old are unable to coexist and these actresses pull off this concept perfectly.
My biggest issue with The Substance is that, it being a film made in the 2020s, it is as subtle as a hammer to the face with its messaging. It is a film about how female beauty is commodified by men and how women are disregarded by society when they incur the effects of aging. I’m sure that the “male gaze” is also a big part of the film’s message (I’m still not entirely sure what that terms means, but I know that it is relevant here). Consequently, all men in this universe are complete scumbags and Dennis Quaid is seemingly their king. Quaid is having a great time chewing scenery here with a performance that is somehow even less subtle that getting hit in the face with a hammer. I didn’t think that the act of eating shrimp cocktail could be so off-putting, but Qaid pulls it off nicely.
Both intentionally and ironically, the movie’s criticism of men and the “male gaze” creates quite a time for male gazing. I’ve seen Margaret Qualley in a couple of movies before, but goddamn. Fellas, you may not notice the commentary on how sexist you are because you will be too busy watching the many, many prolonged T&A shots of Qualley. And I mean long, lingering shots. I am genuinely surprised that this movie didn’t get an NC-17 for graphic nudity alone. The Substance may think that men are chauvinist pigs, but yet is still a really enjoyable viewing experience for chauvinist pigs. Well played, movie. Well played.
The film’s schizophrenic tone, though, will likely make it highly divisive for audiences. I found myself thinking of Barbarian, another highly divisive horror film in recent years. It seems like people either love or hate that movie and I am firmly in the love-it camp, but I can understand why people don’t enjoy it. Both films include jarring shifts in tone, but the difference between Barbarian and The Substance is that Barbarian’s narrative had a clear dividing line between tones. There was a moment when it shifted from serious thriller to Evil Dead 2-style comedic horror and you are either on board with the change or not. The Substance does this shift multiple times, as it goes back-and-forth between serious thriller and campy gorefest throughout its substantial running time. If you want one tone or the other, you are going to have a bad time as serious, Oscar-worthy character moments alternate with campy bloodbaths of body horror.
I really enjoyed the ride, but I can definitely see people hating this. The Substance isn’t for everyone, but give it a shot if my description sounds like something you would like. It’s worth it for Demi Moore’s performance alone. I’m not familiar with director Coralie Fargeat (this is only her second feature and I’m not familiar with the first one), but I’m looking forward to her next movie if this insanity is indicative of her sensibilities. Perhaps tone the messaging down and be a little more subtle about your inspirations (the visual nods to Kubrick, Cronenberg and Lynch are a little too on the nose), but I’ll gladly take more weird gorefests over PG-13 Blumhouse productions.
Image by: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Substance#/media/File:The_Substance_poster.jpg
