The Big Picture

The Substance
is a body horror film following an aging actress navigating sexism and reclaiming her body autonomy.
The visual maximalism of the film can be overwhelming, prioritizing style over character development.
The movie ends with a gore-filled, bonkers finale.

Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance is a body horror film that takes after Julia Ducournau’s Titane. The director made a name for herself in 2017 with her feature debut Revenge, an uneven yet entertaining rape-revenge thriller. That film contained a handful of inspiring visuals which had many (including myself) clocking Fargeat as a clear one to follow in the horror space. There’s the gnarly moment the lead character cauterizes a wound with an aluminum beer can and also the ending which is a never-ending chase scene through hallways of slippery-slidey blood. Somehow, The Substance’s finale far exceeds the bloodiness of Revenge’s.

The Substance A new sci-fi body-horror film by Coralie Fargeat centered on a special metamorphic treatment known as The Substance.Release Date May 19, 2024 Director Coralie Fargeat Runtime 140 Minutes Writers Coralie Fargeat Studio(s) Working Title Films , A Good Story

What Is ‘The Substance’ About?

But to rewind, in The Substance we first meet Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore), an aging Oscar-winning actress in the process of getting fired from her fitness TV host job. She’s simply not “hot” enough anymore. It’s nothing personal, just the reality of being her age in this profession—this is how her sexist producer boss Harvey (Dennis Quaid) cavalierly explains it through mouthfuls of shrimp, chowing down in a manner that makes King Denethor II from The Lord of the Rings look like Anna Wintour. Naming a brazenly sexist producer “Harvey” clues one in early to the level of subtlety to expect in the narrative to come.

Around this time, Elisabeth is presented with an intriguing opportunity to start afresh again—a black USB drive from a mysterious product “The Substance” beckoning for her to learn more. The slickness of this company’s product packaging and video presentation mirror how Fargeat and her collaborators compose and shoot every frame of The Substance. Fargeat co-edits, and extreme close-ups juxtapose against wide shots and more impressionistic flourishes, bouncing between them all at a Ritalin-fevered pace. Abrasive, overexaggerated sound effects are piped in wherever possible. This visual maximalism has varying mileage and can become grating as it leaves little space for actual character building. The film prioritizes style above all else, with colorful symmetrical framing and title cards in hip sans serif block text. With a hefty 140-minute runtime, this makes The Substance exhausting in spots where it should be exhilarating.

As Elisabeth takes the plunge and begins her Substance treatment, the body horror elements begin and it’s clear right away that if you’re queasy you should exit the theater now before it gets much worse later. This is also where co-lead Sue (Margaret Qualley) emerges and, without spoiling how their symbiotic relationship works, the fight between Elisabeth and Sue’s control over their own bodies takes center stage. The story begins to spin its wheels in this middle act, with endless montage sequences illustrating Sue’s ascendant modeling and TV career contrasted with Elisabeth’s rapidly deteriorating body. At its core, The Substance acts as a feminist update on Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Coralie Fargeat Chooses Style Over the Substance

Unafraid of nudity presented from every conceivable angle, Moore’s performance bares all. Meanwhile, Qualley’s nude body as Sue seems digitally altered, which creates this airbrushed feeling that is quite effective. Sue’s youthful body represents the total commodification of sex, where the explicit and sexlessness intersect. The Substance’s satire can be too obvious and straightforward, like when Harvey tells Elisabeth the age-old line that women should smile—an audio clip that pops up throughout the film’s more manic moments. Sue’s role in taking over Elisabeth’s life is presented with an intentional lack of interiority (she barely speaks throughout the film). If she was granted more personality, we might have ended up rooting for both leads, amping up the intensity of their back-and-forth battle for cultural relevancy as actors.

Alternatively, Elisabeth and Sue could team up together. Instead, they refuse to let another woman (each other) stand in the way of their own dreams—a savvy read on how the capitalism rat race functions to deflect from the real enemies.

The Substance drives toward a New Year’s Eve special that Sue is slated to host, a gig sure to skyrocket her stardom to a new level. After being cooped up in the same few locations for much of the runtime, this finale leads to some set pieces that exit the TV studio and Elisabeth’s apartment—a welcome change. The suspense here makes the narrative flatness of the film’s first two-thirds more apparent and disappointing. But sticking the landing is not easy and so this completely bonkers, often very funny, gore-filled final act grants The Substance goodwill. Considering The Substance’s ending builds on the blood-soaked ending of Revenge, then God help us for what Fargeat has in store for us for her third feature. The Substance ensures she’ll have a legion of new horror fans anxiously anticipating it.

The Substance REVIEWCoralie Fargeat’s The Substance is a film whose style might get in the way of the substance, but it still ensures the filmmaker will have a legion of new horror fans waiting for what she does next.ProsEverything from the style to the way the bodies have seemingly been digitially altered provides quite effective moments.The film is rather savvy when it comes to how the capitalism rat race functions to deflect from the real enemies.The bonkers ending is a welcome change of pace that sticks the landing, ensuring that it ups the ante from everything that followed in spectacular fashion. ConsMuch of the film can be too obvious, often feeling exhausting in parts where it should be exhilirating.The film is lacking in character growth as it goes all in on a maximalist style, leaving little sense of who some of these people are.

The Substance had its World Premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.