The Substance Review: Bloody Intense!

Coralie Fargeat made her directorial debut in 2017 with her action-horror movie Revenge, a film that garnered her multiple independent film awards as well as a Shudder exclusive deal for distribution. Even greater than that, Revenge signified Fargeat’s undeniable talent and break into the film world with intensity and a sinister eye for feminine violence and revenge.

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Where some filmmakers would take this success and capitalize on it with a project soon after, Fargeat went seven years crafting her second feature The Substance, a body horror taking on beauty standards and how it relates to a woman’s fear of aging in a diabolical industry. Some of her greatest influences being David Lynch and Cronenberg, it is without question this movie would surprise audiences unfamiliar with Fargeat’s style. The Substance is an explosive feature that refuses to let its audience settle once it gets going.

Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) has been a star for decades, but her time of stardom is coming to a close. She is not as youthful and “beautiful” as she used to be, as the industry prides itself on finding the newest and hottest young talent. Seeing that she is being closed out at an alarming rate, she is given an opportunity to be a candidate for a new drug called “The Substance,” which unlocks the ability to duplicate and create a younger and better version of oneself for seven days at a time.

Upon use, Elisabeth and her younger self Sue (Margaret Qualley) become at odds with one another, slowly breaking the very strict instructions, resulting in otherworldly consequences. What appears to be a sort of Black Mirror episode on paper, Coralie Fargeat has developed a skillfully executed script to coincide with her anxiety-inducing directorial techniques to give her audience an acid trip of wildly unexpected turns.

As proven in Revenge, Fargeat has a distinct eye for how she wants to tell her story through her camera shots and tracking. Her zoomed out sequences create an open space for her character to maneuver that distances her audience from the actions physically, as one would when dealing with the obsessive characteristic of Elisabeth and Sue. Tracking from a low angle as characters are being dragged across the floor by their feet give off the feeling of the audience watching sequences we shouldn’t be in the room for, just as Elisabeth and Sue try to hide their secrets from the outside world.

With her use of a sound design that tears at your eardrums and a thumping score that is both party-like and hell bent, The Substance is anything but a cautionary medical advancement story. It is a terrifying example of a reality women often face, where going to extremes result in negative consequences. But, remaining in the middle of the expectations placed upon us seems to never satisfy us or the world either.

The Substance, although won’t be the poster child for the expectations placed on women or the nuances of said issue, the emotions it evokes from its audience has a strong ability to exemplify the disgusting cycle of standard beauty, that even with modern attempts to dismantle it, seem to never die out. With every attempt from Elisabeth to maintain an ageless and gorgeous body and face, Fargeat brings up through the film’s themes the impossible balance of accepting the reality of aging while trying to maintain the beauty people see in you when you are young and invincible.

Just as Elizasbeth and Sue seem to have an uncontrollable urge to make exceptions to the rules, breaking the balance of The Substance, the film displays how true balance is rarely reached when the world is constantly swaying us into two extremes of self worth versus unattainable beauty. Elizabeth and Sue’s destruction towards one another is also perfectly executed in the film to portray the anger women place on themselves for not being who they believe they should be.

The greatest trick that Coralie Fargeat is able to pull off with her new film is pulling the concepts from the film and administering it to her filmmaking. Just as Elisabeth is plagued in her life to be prettier, younger, and better than herself, there are often these same expectations placed on female filmmakers as to what they can accomplish and the types of films they are “best at.”

Some of the most prominent female filmmakers are known for their great work who’s films often exude a light and airy feminine touch with strong drama and human qualities that make them excellent in their own rights. Although The Substance takes on a topic central to women, its execution and deliverance backs the strongest of punches with grotesque imagery that is leaving audiences in shock.

To learn of Fargeat’s role in the film’s direction and writing, she herself is leaving all preconceived notions of what a woman may be interested in making and says to everyone, “You thought it was over? Well here is more” in the last twenty minutes of the film (that is the bloodiest and most intense climax you’re likely to see all year). To enter into territory of creating a film that seems to be divisive among cinephiles and general audiences, Fargeat has done what many can only dream of, defying what a film can do and how it will make people react. To say that Fargeat has succeeded in where Elisabeth and Sue could not in itself is proving that maybe expectations don’t have to be set in stone. Maybe we should accept that the balance will never be reached and find our own peace in the chaos.

‘The Substance’ Rating – 4.5/5

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