Support Trailers From Hell with a donation to help us reduce ads and keep creating the content you love! Donate Now
Trailers
From Hell.com

The Substance

by Terry Morgan Sep 20, 2024

The Substance

There’s a certain kind of film fan that reacts positively when they hear that an upcoming movie is “outrageous” or “over-the-top.” The idea that something “goes too far” does not dissuade; there is no ‘too far.” The boundaries exist to be pushed, please show us something new. I am one of those film fans, for better or worse. As a film critic, I am by definition jaded – I’ve seen tens of thousands of films. So instead of worrying that I’ll be offended by a new work that proclaims itself to be deliberately provocative, my inner aesthete responds: Bring it on! What do ya got?

I’ve been hearing about writer/director Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance for months now, with entirely positive buzz promising a wild experience. People warned that one should see the film with no prior knowledge of its twists and turns. It won Best Screenplay at Cannes! For a horror movie?! It was by Fargeat, whose previous film, Revenge, was stylish, impressively wrought and similarly violently unhinged? Consider me intrigued.

Having now seen the film, I am somewhat torn in my opinion of it. It looks lovely, is cleverly directed and dives gleefully into the depths of body horror grotesquerie. It features what in the not so distant past would have been referred to as “brave” performances that include fearless amounts of nudity, although audience’s feelings on whether or not that was merited will differ. I enjoyed its boldness and flouting of traditional good taste, but ironically the thing that kept me from fully embracing The Substance as a successful work of art was its award-winning screenplay. It was, in a word, less “substantive” than I was hoping it might be.

Elisabeth (Demi Moore), a longtime celebrity host of an aerobics show, has had a great life. She’s popular, financially well off and has been a symbol of beauty in the culture for decades. And then one day she turns fifty, and network head Harvey (Dennis Quaid) unceremoniously dumps her and starts looking for a younger host for the program. Elisabeth is devastated by this unexpected shift in her fortunes and doesn’t know what to do. One day she receives information about a secret new drug, “The Substance,” that promises a form of youth and beauty. Desperate, Elisabeth decides to try this mysterious product, and it does indeed change her life, but very much not for the better.

I haven’t seen Moore onscreen in a while, so it’s a pleasant surprise to not only see her return but also to see her gamely taking on such an unusual project. I’m trying not to ruin the film for any readers by including any spoilers, but that will unfortunately necessitate a certain vagueness in my discussion of it. A great deal of the enjoyment of Moore’s performance is how she allows herself to be portrayed, in her willingness to fully embrace the subject matter in a way big Hollywood stars rarely would. There’s a joy in her work here, a rejection of celebrity vanity that feels personal and powerful. Her presence lends the film a credibility it might not have otherwise had.

Margaret Qualley is excellent as Sue, a character whose relevance in the film should remain enigmatic here. She effectively epitomizes the beautiful ingenue role, playing to the rapacious men around her, but also sells Sue’s underlying rage and selfishness with delicious skill. I’ve been thinking for a while that Qualley is going to be a big star, going from strength to strength in previous films such as Drive-Away Dolls and Sanctuary, and her performance here announces that she can do anything.

Quaid goes big as the repellent Harvey (I presume that name choice isn’t coincidental), vulgarity itself in a variety of clownish suits (credit Emmanuelle Youchnovski’s striking costume design). He’s brash and bitchy and perfect as the epitome of Hollywood sexism, and he too is willing to discard traditional celebrity vanity here, made to seem literally monstrous through Fargeat’s slow-motion closeups and slowed-down sound design. His is the most overtly comedic take in the movie, and he’s great.

Fargeat displays impressive technical skill as a director, employing creative camera usage and weirdly beautiful shots (Benjamin Kracun’s cinematography is luscious throughout) amid the gaudy gore. She clearly knows exactly what she wants to display, and Stanislas Reydellet’s production design creates vividly memorable spaces in which the madness may play out. She lacks neither skill nor ambition, and the conclusion of the film satisfyingly delivers insane spectacle.

The basic premise of the story, however, is unconvincing. The deal that Elisabeth decides to accept is a deal that nobody would ever accept. Without mentioning specifics, there are no upsides to the bargain and a ton of horrific downsides. I understand that this is in no way a realistic film, but the essential disconnect of logic here kept me from being fully onboard with the movie. There are those who will point out that the picture is a dark satirical comedy or an allegory about how some women internalize societal pressure to look a certain way, and these are both true. And yet this problem with unbelievable character motivation kept me from completely loving a film I really wanted to love. I also think I had assumptions that this was going to be more of a horror film with comedic elements, whereas it’s really a dark comedy with body horror elements – which is fine, the silliness at the conclusion is ultimately rather endearing.

I enjoyed The Substance and admired a lot of it. Fargeat is a talented filmmaker, and I’m certainly interested to see what she does next. A lot of people are going to love this film, and that’s great. It takes big swings, and I applaud its audacity. I just wish I had been able to believe in its basic premise a bit more.

The Substance is playing only in theaters.

About Terry Morgan

Terry Morgan has been writing professionally since 1990 for publications such as L.A Weekly, Backstage West and Variety, among others. His love of horror cinema knows no bounds, though some have suggested that a few bounds might not be a bad thing.

3 1 vote
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
1 Comment
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
david smith

I saw it with a festival audience of horror fans and was absolutely blown away. I have some niggles but the final gag on the sidewalk is so priceless. The audience of ghouls went out on a high as it was cloasing film. I’m seeing it again tomorrow with my wife

1
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x