Verdict
Summary
This is not for those easily turned off by gross body horror, but it is entertaining and interesting if you’re not particularly squeamish about that sort of thing.
Plot: Aging celebrity Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) takes a black market drug named “The Substance” to “birth” a younger version of herself (Margaret Qualley).
Review: I was thrown off when I heard The Substance was getting a lot of critical attention. This, from what I heard, was a body horror, not the sort of thing that makes movie critics’ knees go weak with desire. However, I was immediately interested due to the two leads; I’ve always had a thing for Demi Moore and enjoyed Margaret Qualley’s performance in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Surely, there has to be something to this movie, right?
Yes, right. The Substance is not your average movie. It’s a very creative and engaging examination of the pressures for women in Hollywood, a person’s desperate desire to maintain or regain their youth, and Tinseltown’s parasitic and shallow culture. What it is not is average, nor will it be anything you expect. Be warned; this movie has some very gross body horror content and an absolutely bizarre last thirty minutes. If you don’t like that, you may as well turn off the movie around the 105-minute mark. Consider yourself warned.
Personally, that sort of thing doesn’t bother me, though it was jarring. Until the end, I’d been watching a very clever satire of Hollywood. The last half hour goes extremely mad. However, I would argue that it makes the movie more memorable; if it had followed the path I expected, it would have ended up being a well-done story. The movie would have lasted in my mind for a few days and then been forgotten until someone brought it up again. Now, thanks to that ending, I’ll remember this movie for a long, long time. Watching the end sequences, I couldn’t help but laugh; the absurdity of it all was just too ridiculous to take seriously – which I believe is the point. The movie seems to take the stance that in the make-believe world of Hollywood, only the revolting and absurd will survive.
Demi Moore is terrific and worth every accolade she received for the film. Her desperation, alienation and loneliness are palatable. As she increasingly goes down the rabbit hole of The Substance, you understand why she can’t stop, even though logic dictates she should. Margaret Qualley, likewise, is excellent as “Sue,” the person created by The Substance, and her vapid attitude about her newfound celebrity is like watching someone die by a thousand cuts. Dennis Quaid is magnificently oily as the Hollywood producer, I assume, is modelled after Harvey Weinstein (his name in the movie is Harvey, after all).
The movie is wonderfully shot. I was blown away by how the picture was framed and how the director seemed to understand how to perfectly amplify every emotion through the camera. The way the camera lavishes over the actor’s bodies all the time (and thus, the viewer does as well), it’s a sometimes voyeuristic and erotic, but sometimes jarring experience. The art direction is superb, with Demi Moore’s place especially being ultra-modern, feeling suffocating and cavernous simultaneously. I didn’t notice the score, which tells you how memorable that was.
As for the creature effects and makeup, they are amazing. Demi Moore’s transformation from an aging beauty to a grotesque hunchback as the film progresses is outstanding – it’s the type of makeup where they left enough to make her recognizable but still believable. There are some truly disgusting moments in the movie, besides the end, which are bound to make the viewer uncomfortable, which is the point. The creature at the end is a nightmare of flesh, and I both applaud the creation and am revolted by the result. I don’t know who thought up the design, but they must have some vivid nightmares.
The Substance, as I’ve said, won’t be for everything. If you give it a chance, though, you’ll find a well-crafted film with memorable characters and an unforgettable plot. Thus, I recommend, just as long as you’re not grossed out easily.