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I liked the scenes that were vaguely reminiscent of Kubrick/Lynch/Gilliam
The Substance - feminist horror starring Demi Moore
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I liked the scenes that were vaguely reminiscent of Kubrick/Lynch/Gilliam
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Watched it a while ago. Very indulgent at times. Especially the long drawn out ending.
But overall it was quite an entertaining movie.
But overall it was quite an entertaining movie.
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Crazy movie…
THE SUBSTANCE
I’m not sure watching Terrifier 3 and then The Substance is a combined concoction suited for anybody with a normal brain function. But it sure was an experience …
Honestly, I think I’d rather jump out of my own body or straight into hell where I’ll probably end up anyway cause I’m a sick man, clearly. I need some Teletubbies or some Dora the Explorer right now, please. Anybody? Somebody? I need help.
Anyway, what an out of body experience this was. A power boosted injection of haunting imagery and horribly great sound design. Both of these elements stitched together with the main plot and some transformative acting performances, turning the whole damn shabang into the freakiest Frankenstein’s monster of a movie I’ve seen in a long time.
It’s not like I didn’t expect most of the directions the film took along the way. And I’m not sure I’m with it all the way to the end either (because it does get absolutely bonkers). But it’s certainly one of those arresting auteur movies with a singular vision that sweeps your feet as well as your jaw off the floor only for it to fall right back down in the next scene.
It’s such demandingly deranged in its presence and it really grabs a hold of you almost to the point of choking… that is, if you aren’t choking on your own puke yet, of course. Yeah, this movie ain’t for the faint of heart. Especially not if you have a phobia of needles - or blood (when that needle drop happens in the climax, like damn).
I found myself completely addicted to the atmosphere of the movie and I constantly craved more cinematic injections of The Substance. Demi Moore is absolutely brilliant and Margaret Qualley act as a brilliant companion piece to this dualistic dance of inner and outer conflict. Such fueled but fragile performances that really strips them both bare in more than one sense of the word.
I was invested, disgusted, drawn in, grossed out, amused, abused and generally just tossed the f*ck around the cinematic playground of Coralie Fargeat. This Freaky Friday freak show is destined to be part of me for a long time. And I can’t go back. If your sense of humor is really dark then this will have you in stitches at times. If not, you might just feel wholeheartedly disturbed.
I can’t promise The Substance is a smoothie of film ingrediens suited for your taste. But if you are in the mood for the kind of moviemaking where someone has an idea and just runs (a f*cking marathon) with it, then this constantly twisted, occasionally funny and always fascinating body horror bonanza might do the trick for you.
So go ahead… use your money on this product. No returns though, cause this shit is permanent. Once it’s inside you it’s inside you. I won’t forget this movie experience in quite some time and I admire it for its creativity, commitment and commentaries. It’s not so much whether it’s piercingly smart or endlessly deep… it’s more how it presents everything and plays around with it.
Perhaps the female beauty standards critique is very on the nose, yes, but it’s more about how that nose transforms throughout the movie, how the nose looks, does it have any warts on it? Does it need plastic surgery? And who says that it needs plastic surgery? And if it does get plastic surgery, does it even look like a nose afterwards? And will it get nose blood everywhere?
Okay, enough with the nose analogy. The nose did the job - I mean the movie did the job - it had me interested throughout and stimulated all my senses. It truly made me think… about… What ever happened to Baby Jane who lived on Sunset Boulevard together with the elephant man and turned into a beautiful black swan only to get swatted like the fly?
That’s probably a question no one ever asked. But this movie right here might answer it if you’re interested. But again - just so you know - you can never go back. That’s it. Goodbye. This review is now terminated.
THE SUBSTANCE
I’m not sure watching Terrifier 3 and then The Substance is a combined concoction suited for anybody with a normal brain function. But it sure was an experience …
Honestly, I think I’d rather jump out of my own body or straight into hell where I’ll probably end up anyway cause I’m a sick man, clearly. I need some Teletubbies or some Dora the Explorer right now, please. Anybody? Somebody? I need help.
Anyway, what an out of body experience this was. A power boosted injection of haunting imagery and horribly great sound design. Both of these elements stitched together with the main plot and some transformative acting performances, turning the whole damn shabang into the freakiest Frankenstein’s monster of a movie I’ve seen in a long time.
It’s not like I didn’t expect most of the directions the film took along the way. And I’m not sure I’m with it all the way to the end either (because it does get absolutely bonkers). But it’s certainly one of those arresting auteur movies with a singular vision that sweeps your feet as well as your jaw off the floor only for it to fall right back down in the next scene.
It’s such demandingly deranged in its presence and it really grabs a hold of you almost to the point of choking… that is, if you aren’t choking on your own puke yet, of course. Yeah, this movie ain’t for the faint of heart. Especially not if you have a phobia of needles - or blood (when that needle drop happens in the climax, like damn).
I found myself completely addicted to the atmosphere of the movie and I constantly craved more cinematic injections of The Substance. Demi Moore is absolutely brilliant and Margaret Qualley act as a brilliant companion piece to this dualistic dance of inner and outer conflict. Such fueled but fragile performances that really strips them both bare in more than one sense of the word.
I was invested, disgusted, drawn in, grossed out, amused, abused and generally just tossed the f*ck around the cinematic playground of Coralie Fargeat. This Freaky Friday freak show is destined to be part of me for a long time. And I can’t go back. If your sense of humor is really dark then this will have you in stitches at times. If not, you might just feel wholeheartedly disturbed.
I can’t promise The Substance is a smoothie of film ingrediens suited for your taste. But if you are in the mood for the kind of moviemaking where someone has an idea and just runs (a f*cking marathon) with it, then this constantly twisted, occasionally funny and always fascinating body horror bonanza might do the trick for you.
So go ahead… use your money on this product. No returns though, cause this shit is permanent. Once it’s inside you it’s inside you. I won’t forget this movie experience in quite some time and I admire it for its creativity, commitment and commentaries. It’s not so much whether it’s piercingly smart or endlessly deep… it’s more how it presents everything and plays around with it.
Perhaps the female beauty standards critique is very on the nose, yes, but it’s more about how that nose transforms throughout the movie, how the nose looks, does it have any warts on it? Does it need plastic surgery? And who says that it needs plastic surgery? And if it does get plastic surgery, does it even look like a nose afterwards? And will it get nose blood everywhere?
Okay, enough with the nose analogy. The nose did the job - I mean the movie did the job - it had me interested throughout and stimulated all my senses. It truly made me think… about… What ever happened to Baby Jane who lived on Sunset Boulevard together with the elephant man and turned into a beautiful black swan only to get swatted like the fly?
That’s probably a question no one ever asked. But this movie right here might answer it if you’re interested. But again - just so you know - you can never go back. That’s it. Goodbye. This review is now terminated.
Last edited by MovieMeditation; 11-07-24 at 07:05 PM.
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"Feminist Horror"? What? That we get old? LOL. Oh no! This isn't horror, it's bloody vanity. This thing shouldn't called "The Substance," it should be called "The Wall" -- newsflash kids, everybody hits it.
On second thought, I think the film should be called "MEAT." I am hard pressed to think of another film which so thoroughly reduces a person to nothing more than a chunk of flesh. Identity, dignity, self-worth, social value, everything that matters is reduced to meat. Demi Moore is rather fearless in putting herself on display in this way. I respect her courage, but I don't think the message was worthy of the display. This is low art with low ambitions that shames us with the lowness of our culture (but we're already familiar with it, so it's a bit like having your nose rubbed on an offending spot of the carpet.
On second thought, I think the film should be called "MEAT." I am hard pressed to think of another film which so thoroughly reduces a person to nothing more than a chunk of flesh. Identity, dignity, self-worth, social value, everything that matters is reduced to meat. Demi Moore is rather fearless in putting herself on display in this way. I respect her courage, but I don't think the message was worthy of the display. This is low art with low ambitions that shames us with the lowness of our culture (but we're already familiar with it, so it's a bit like having your nose rubbed on an offending spot of the carpet.
Last edited by Corax; 12-26-24 at 06:59 AM.
Fascinating story if you're into behind-the-scenes stuff and VFX
(Warning: This story contains spoilers for Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance).
In the final scenes of The Substance, things get messy.
Coralie Fargeat’s body horror satire follows the descent of former A-lister Elisabeth Sparkle who, in a desperate attempt to recapture her youth and stay relevant in sexist and ageist Hollywood, starts taking a mysterious chemical called The Substance. Things go very, very wrong.
Shortly after injecting the substance, Sparkle (Demi Moore, who just picked up her first-ever Golden Globe for the role) is writhing on her bathroom floor. Her back splits down the spine and Sue, a slimy, younger version of herself (played by Margaret Qualley) crawls out. Initially, the two clones follow the plan, swapping out every seven days. The body in the bathroom is kept alive with a feeding tube, while the other free is free live their life.
In the final scenes of The Substance, things get messy.
Coralie Fargeat’s body horror satire follows the descent of former A-lister Elisabeth Sparkle who, in a desperate attempt to recapture her youth and stay relevant in sexist and ageist Hollywood, starts taking a mysterious chemical called The Substance. Things go very, very wrong.
Shortly after injecting the substance, Sparkle (Demi Moore, who just picked up her first-ever Golden Globe for the role) is writhing on her bathroom floor. Her back splits down the spine and Sue, a slimy, younger version of herself (played by Margaret Qualley) crawls out. Initially, the two clones follow the plan, swapping out every seven days. The body in the bathroom is kept alive with a feeding tube, while the other free is free live their life.
I would have rated this film quite a bit higher is it had chopped the last bits off completely. No, not the last bits of Demi Moore, the last bits of the film, silly! 
It should have ended when:
The final 15 minutes of the film just didn't work for me at all, and had me wishing it would just end already, as I felt all the stuff that came before it was pretty well-done. That said, i will say that...
...I don't buy that this is a feminist film. I think it went pretty far over the line of exploitation, and I kept getting the feeling the director was ostensibly calling out ogling while doing plenty of ogling herself. She was clearly obsessed with Qualey.
It should have ended when:
WARNING: "The Substance" spoilers below
Sue stood up and looked in the mirror after trying to restart the process, looking at herself in horror as she realized what she had become. Cut to black. End.
The final 15 minutes of the film just didn't work for me at all, and had me wishing it would just end already, as I felt all the stuff that came before it was pretty well-done. That said, i will say that...
...I don't buy that this is a feminist film. I think it went pretty far over the line of exploitation, and I kept getting the feeling the director was ostensibly calling out ogling while doing plenty of ogling herself. She was clearly obsessed with Qualey.
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“Film can't just be a long line of bliss. There's something we all like about the human struggle.” ― David Lynch
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I would have rated this film quite a bit higher is it had chopped the last bits off completely. No, not the last bits of Demi Moore, the last bits of the film, silly!
It should have ended when:
The final 15 minutes of the film just didn't work for me at all, and had me wishing it would just end already, as I felt all the stuff that came before it was pretty well-done. That said, i will say that...
...I don't buy that this is a feminist film. I think it went pretty far over the line of exploitation, and I kept getting the feeling the director was ostensibly calling out ogling while doing plenty of ogling herself. She was clearly obsessed with Qualey.
It should have ended when:
WARNING: "The Substance" spoilers below
Sue stood up and looked in the mirror after trying to restart the process, looking at herself in horror as she realized what she had become. Cut to black. End.
The final 15 minutes of the film just didn't work for me at all, and had me wishing it would just end already, as I felt all the stuff that came before it was pretty well-done. That said, i will say that...
...I don't buy that this is a feminist film. I think it went pretty far over the line of exploitation, and I kept getting the feeling the director was ostensibly calling out ogling while doing plenty of ogling herself. She was clearly obsessed with Qualey.
I can get that people's mileage is going to vary on this kind of go-for-broke ending, but what I don't get is much of the criticism of it seems to center around the final scene somehow betraying the tone of everything that came before hand. In fact, everything that comes beforehand almost demands the film ends this way.
The whole world of the film is basically one of the barely repressed grotesque. Yes, the filmmaking is somewhat restrained, and almost clinical at times, but just beneath the surface is a totally debased and mutant version of humanity. At no point is the film playing at being realistic. It's a nightmare world of fake smiles and sociopathic business executives and Dennis Quaid shovelling shellfish into his mouth. The whole movie is just dying to have one great horrific explosion by its climax. The film would feel incomplete without that.
And I think ending the film where you suggest might make a lot of sense in a more sober minded film, that would end up treating the movie like it's whole purpose was the personal struggle of Moores character in reconciling her body image and self hatred. But the movie is equally about the world outside which is always demanding more. Always expecting more and more extremes to attain the kind of beauty which is acceptable. So I think it's inevitable that Moore's condition needs to be brought out into that world to reflect back to it what it actually is. A place of absurd standards that can only ultimately be deforming. And that world needs to have what it has done paraded in front of it. It must be covered in this inhuman shit that it has encouraged.
And I don't think subtlety here would do the movie any favors for what I think it's going for
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And I don't think subtlety here would do the movie any favors for what I think it's going for
But like you said, mileage may vary!
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Well, looks like I’m the only one here that hated it (not even viscerally, but more in a ‘These are hours of my life I’ll never get back’ way). I am a huge Cronenberg fan and adore body horror, even the extreme kind, so on paper this was supposed to be my kind of thing, or at least I was meant to be able to appreciate it… no such luck.
I don’t know, I took issue with some of the world-building and plot logic (I wrote in the ‘Movie You’re Watching Tonight’ thread that I felt , but more importantly, it just seemed really silly, for lack of a better word, and lacked, imo, any sort of, well, substance?)
I do acknowledge I often ‘don’t get’ feminist horror, but I do really like Revenge and have rewatched it countless times, everything’s great there — the soundtrack (I have it in my library and listen to it regularly), the characters, the vibes, the plot. It’s likely that Revenge was the exception to the rule, though I also quite like stuff like Raw. I do appreciate quite a few New French Extremity films, but I suppose I don’t see them as particularly feminist (Martyrs is a knockout imo). But well, I personally have a complicated relationship with feminism, so it could be that I’m just not the intended audience here. It just seemed like a student film to me, the
Much like one reviewer in The Cut, I believe, I also found it very confusing that Elisabeth looks phenomenal for the most part (imo Demi Moore herself actually looks better than the character, which is even more perplexing), so the narrative of ‘decline’ just isn’t really there from the onset…. So yeah, I feel like I’m really missing the point here, but I thought it was awful, really irritatingly bad.
Also (again paraphrasing from The Cut, but I did think this, too) the dynamics/logistics of
I adore my absurdist surreal moments à la Lynch, but the ending didn’t land that vibe here imo, so again it was just odd and out of place. I watched it in a packed theatre and we were all laughing in a kind of resigned disgust at having ruined our night (my row at least). Or I could be projecting. But universal acclaim there was not.
I don’t know, I took issue with some of the world-building and plot logic (I wrote in the ‘Movie You’re Watching Tonight’ thread that I felt
WARNING: spoilers below
it would have made more sense to have the older version drain life/youth out of the young version, with the older version getting younger by the day (there’s a film that does this, but I can’t think of the title)
I do acknowledge I often ‘don’t get’ feminist horror, but I do really like Revenge and have rewatched it countless times, everything’s great there — the soundtrack (I have it in my library and listen to it regularly), the characters, the vibes, the plot. It’s likely that Revenge was the exception to the rule, though I also quite like stuff like Raw. I do appreciate quite a few New French Extremity films, but I suppose I don’t see them as particularly feminist (Martyrs is a knockout imo). But well, I personally have a complicated relationship with feminism, so it could be that I’m just not the intended audience here. It just seemed like a student film to me, the
WARNING: spoilers below
chicken/recipe book stuff was just ridiculous, not in a good way, and annoying.
Much like one reviewer in The Cut, I believe, I also found it very confusing that Elisabeth looks phenomenal for the most part (imo Demi Moore herself actually looks better than the character, which is even more perplexing), so the narrative of ‘decline’ just isn’t really there from the onset…. So yeah, I feel like I’m really missing the point here, but I thought it was awful, really irritatingly bad.
Also (again paraphrasing from The Cut, but I did think this, too) the dynamics/logistics of
WARNING: spoilers below
‘the deal’ for Elisabeth herself are entirely inexplicable — she isn’t even awake to feel the younger version ‘live life to the fullest’, so again what does she get out of it? It’s not like the money ‘Sue’ makes goes into Elisabeth’s bank account, because, well, legally they are presumably different people…? And the whole thing started off with Elisabeth wanting to prolong her career, presumably to make more money, so what gives?
I adore my absurdist surreal moments à la Lynch, but the ending didn’t land that vibe here imo, so again it was just odd and out of place. I watched it in a packed theatre and we were all laughing in a kind of resigned disgust at having ruined our night (my row at least). Or I could be projecting. But universal acclaim there was not.
The metaphor does seem a little muddled, but I took the angle of it being a metaphor for plastic surgery. Sacrificing the state of your body to stay young, but it's going to cause you to look more and more uncanny as you get older. As the work starts to become more apparent, there can be an ongoing attempt to get more and more work done, but that often just shortens the time and increases the severity for when plastic surgery makes the person look... un-human. Hence the whole, "you're the same person," if you try to overdo too much looking young for too long, you do irreparable harm to the body/appearance of the older you. The need to keep looking young and be attractive is kind of an addiction of socially-reinforced dopamine hits and the inability to accept no longer looking attractive is too much of a stick.
The whole pressure of how society forces female celebrities to try to keep their youthful appearance to often horrible results coincidentally popped up with those Madonna photos over the summer, I think (this year? Last year? What is time?).
(I don't want to reference her appearance in those photos too much, because it would feel in bad taste and kind of the point the movie was trying to make of how we get there, but that scenario seemed like a clear, recent real world version of what the movie appeared to be about).
The, "what does she get out of it?", does get somewhat muddled with that literal story, but that's what I think it's going for. I guess there could be a bit of a fractured psyche for people who get plastic surgery, where they feel like a different person right after their (early) operations. IDK, haven't heard people talk about it. People like to keep it secret when they get work done, usually.
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I agree with Sedai, the ending went over the top. I would have stopped it with her leaning over the sink. The ending and the mad French cooking scene took it into silly territory. That aside, I thought it was very well done.
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I think the "feminist" part is only used as a setup, after that it becomes a story of greed.
The company that supplies the substance isn't an evil entity that tricks people into making the wrong decisions or prey on people's vulnerability. After all, the hospital guy didn't have a career to save.
It offers a half-perfect solution with clear instructions, and Elisabeth could have been Sue for the rest of her life. Well, half of it.
It kinda reminds of the fairy godmother who instructs Cinderella to leave the ball before the clock strikes midnight.
Elisabeth is the Cinderella who tampers with the magic spell because what she got is no longer good enough.
Had this been done in the classic fairy tale, it would be at the expense of Cinderella's good nature, thus making her as bad (or even worse) than her stepsisters.
The (alarming) issue of beauty ideals is much more apparent in Coralie Fargeat's short film REALITY+.
It has that Black Mirror vibe of "can we resist the temptations of modern technology to cover up our (imaginary) problems rather than dealing with it".
This was also used for The Substance but much of it was overshadowed by the freakshow's campy tone.
The company that supplies the substance isn't an evil entity that tricks people into making the wrong decisions or prey on people's vulnerability. After all, the hospital guy didn't have a career to save.
It offers a half-perfect solution with clear instructions, and Elisabeth could have been Sue for the rest of her life. Well, half of it.
It kinda reminds of the fairy godmother who instructs Cinderella to leave the ball before the clock strikes midnight.
Elisabeth is the Cinderella who tampers with the magic spell because what she got is no longer good enough.
Had this been done in the classic fairy tale, it would be at the expense of Cinderella's good nature, thus making her as bad (or even worse) than her stepsisters.
The (alarming) issue of beauty ideals is much more apparent in Coralie Fargeat's short film REALITY+.
It has that Black Mirror vibe of "can we resist the temptations of modern technology to cover up our (imaginary) problems rather than dealing with it".
This was also used for The Substance but much of it was overshadowed by the freakshow's campy tone.
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