There are movies where you laugh uncontrollably — thank you Superbad — or ones where you can’t stop crying — shout out Brokeback Mountain — or ones where you are glued to the screen until the credits roll — any Fincher film. Then, we have ones like The Substance, a movie where you are trying to simultaneously cover your eyes and plug your ears as nausea washes over you and goosebumps cover every inch of your skin.
I had decided to propose a fun little girl’s movie night, dinner in town, and then a nice walk to the Weitz to catch the newest flick that has been at the forefront of the murmurs online during award season. Five nominations and a win at the Golden Globes sparked discourse about horror movie representation at award shows and from then I knew that I wanted to watch it.
For context, horror is not a genre that I particularly enjoy. I fear that The Nightmare Before Christmas is about as scary as I get before I tap out. I saw Longlegs over the summer and let me tell you, I couldn’t sleep for days. So, I knew that I needed to get a group of my friends to come watch it with me so I could feel safe while watching what would unfold on screen.
We didn’t know what we were in for. At all. The film begins by following a washed-up Hollywood star, Elisabeth Sparkle, as she gets fired from her big-time network show because the producer wants to bring in someone younger. Sparkle begins to spiral and finds herself choosing to participate in a bizarre and ominous program called “the substance.” In short, she is instructed to inject herself with this neon green liquid that creates a younger, more perfect version of herself named Sue. The two women live completely different lives under two strict rules. 1. They must switch places every 7 days, with no exceptions. And 2. “You are one.”
Elisabeth Sparkle is played by the very talented Demi Moore and Sue by Margaret Qualley. Moore is fierce in this role, she brings immense emotion to the screen, and her acting often made me uncomfortable with how raw and realistic it was. Qualley is addicting, she immediately pulls you into her fun and flirtatious character but is versatile as Sue begins her downfall. Demi Moore’s Golden Globe win as Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy Motion Picture was very deserving and I am excited to see how she fares for the rest of the award season. Qualley was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, and did not win, to which I protest as I feel her performance is what made the movie.
Actor Dennis Quaid created maybe the most unsettling and uneasy character in the film. He played Harvey, a big-time Hollywood producer who served as the epitome of the “sexist pig” type in the film industry.
Reflecting on the messages of this movie, it’s clear that director Coralie Fargeat is aiming to further the conversation about the expectations and pressures that women face in Hollywood. The beauty standards, sexualization and anti-aging movements that are so normalized throughout the industry are picked apart in The Substance for what they truly are: unrealistic.
Elisabeth drives herself to a point of madness in order to fulfill her desires to be younger and sexier to not let the spotlight extinguish. She quickly realizes that after injecting herself with the substance and living her split life as Sue these societal pressures are draining and if constantly trying to live a life clawing away at your sanity to meet them, you will perish.
The film is filled with moments of discomfort with incredibly graphic visuals but more intensely, it’s the sound that really made my skin crawl. I can’t even begin to describe the ways in which the sound engineers nailed it. The violent visuals of blood and needles were tame in comparison to the sounds used throughout. Not just seeing, but hearing the gore is what frightened me the most.
Overall, The Substance is filled with gore that will make you feel uneasy to the point of nausea, but that’s the point. You should feel disturbed when watching. It’s clear that Fargeat wanted to facilitate that kind of reaction to her film. Women have felt uncomfortable in the film industry since its inception because of these societal standards of appearance that are forced upon girls as children. The anti-aging campaign that we see today, exacerbated by social media, is damaging and although Elisabeth Sparkle’s methods are obviously extremely unfeasible, the point still remains. Women will actively destroy themselves from within in order to confine themselves to the expectations placed upon them.
In short, The Substance wasn’t the best movie I’ve ever seen. It was filled with plot holes, the ending kind of sucked, and so many scenes were just unnecessary. But, the performances were solid, the hair and makeup team should absolutely be recognized and appreciated throughout award season, and most importantly, the film caused me to think. Think about how many people would make the same choice Elisabeth Sparkle did. After all, our culture is currently obsessed with a weight loss injection that every elite seems to use, so how many of them would agree to the substance? Is it really that far-fetched that so many would choose to destroy themselves completely in order to have a few more minutes in the spotlight?