The Substance

3.5 Stars (out of four)

Okay, everybody, I'm back! It's been awhile since I put something up here, ever since I did my review for Yesterday on July 7, 2019 (over five years ago, wow!) and my life has changed a lot since then. But one thing that HASN'T changed is my love for movies and I am going to start doing this again as I miss doing it. So, I decided to start with one of the strangest, and probably odd for me to talk to you about, movie that I have seen in some time. BE WARNED: This movie is NOT for everybody, you will need a strong stomach for several things whether it be the portrayal of women in a post-"Me Too" world or if you just don't like gore, but this movie is one of the profound things I have seen since "Ex Machina." The movie is written and directed (and produced and edited) by French independent filmmaker Coralie Fargeat, and boy, is this movie an AMAZING second feature film. She is 48, which shows it is never too late to make something truly great. This film has a LOT to say and I wanted to say something about it. It really hit me hard, and I have seen one of the next great talents in the movie industry, yet one who is willing to tear apart the very industry she works in. This movie is a fable that is both body horror and satire on several things with the blackest of black comedy and yet takes itself deadly serious. It has one of the most stinging, acidic and totally tears out the facade of society in general and society in specific. The ONLY reason this does not get four stars is how over-the-top the final scene is, but it is also genius as to how it skewers Hollywood. It is very much a middle finger to the industry.

First, what is it about? It is very hard to say WHAT it is about. On the one hand, it is a very straightforward body horror film, but to label it so minimizes what it is, the greatness of this film and cheapens its ultimate message. But first, let's just sum up the story briefly. Elisabeth Sparkle (played AMAZINGLY by Demi Moore, quite possibly the best performance of her career and one of the best this year), is a formerly famous actress that has now become the host of a very popular aerobics show, a la Jane Fonda in the Eighties, and is fired on her 50th birthday. She gets into a car accident on her way home as she sees a billboard of her is being taken down. While in the hospital, she is given a flash drive from a young nurse who says it changed his life. It is an advertisement of sorts for a potion called The Substance. The Substance will make a more perfect, more ideal version of you. Of course, Elisabeth ends up taking it, and a younger version of her (played by the beautifully sexy Margaret Qualley) is "birthed" from her back. We find out that this new avatar has to "Stablize" herself by extracting fluid from Elisabeth every day. She is also warned that each body are both the same person and each body has to switch into the other every seven days, NO EXCEPTIONS. The avatar names herself Sue and she basically takes over Elisabeth's exercise show and becomes an instant hit. As Sue/Elisabeth becomes enamored of her "new" life, she takes more and more time in Sue. The problem, as she finds out, is if the seven days are not followed, she will deteriorate. So as Sue becomes more selfish about her fabulous life, she is hastening her own death.

BUT, this film is REALLY about a lot of things: a commentary on the fake plasticness of Hollywood and the entertainment industry, the "invincibleness" of youth, the fact that world is an oyster to young beautiful women who use their sexuality as a kind of commerce-her only value, a commentary on the vapid sexualization of women in entertainment today, and finally, on a macro scale, it is an examination on growing older, especially for women, in a society that worships at the altar of youthful beauty and sexuality and what happens as one becomes older.

It is not a secret that women have "expiration dates" when they work in Hollywood with very few exceptions. Once they pass a certain age, usually somewhere in her mid-Thirties, she is no longer bankable and loses her "currency" of sexual appeal. But what happens when that currency is not worth as much as it used to be? What happens, when beauty is all you are, is no longer the case? Would you be willing to kill yourself if you could be younger? It also is an interesting take on the relationship of youth vs. age. Being young and beautiful in America opens so many doors. This has always and will always be the case. But this movie argues that the arrogance of youth will inevitably end up bad if you don't grow up, or at least be more faceted in your life. It is the classic Faustian story: What good is it to inherit the world when the piper comes calling for the payment?

Ms. Fargeat shows a real talent for both visual and lyrical metaphor. Besides the very odd story, the movie's tone has an otherworldly feel, based on how she shoots the film. She used a lot of low angles, distorted closeups and odd set design. Another interesting thing about his film is it very much works in what is stupidly called the "male gaze." The fact the oversexualization of Sue is making a critical point. It is commentary on how much sex permeates everything in entertainment, but it also a very primal part of our psyche, one that cannot be exorcised by modern attitudes about the role of the sexes. Sexual attraction is an inherent part of all of us, and today's entertainment industry uses this to make enormous dollars. And despite the fact we are in a post-Me Too period, we have become even more sexualized than ever before.

It is interesting that Demi Moore is the main character in this, because even at 50, frankly, she is still a VERY beautiful and sexy woman. I don't think many other women could pull this off. It seems tailor made for her and only she or a few other actresses could inhabit this role as they are the ones who actually set the bar for beauty in the past. It is similar to how nobody could have played the protagonist in Unforgiven EXCEPT Clint Eastwood or John Wayne, precisely because they set the precise archetypes and tropes for the character and story that Unforgiven gleefully tears apart. Demi is amazing in this role and quite frankly should get an Oscar for this performance. It is THAT good. But unfortunately, will not get it because of the movie's subject matter. The Academy would never take a horror movie seriously, and it is unfortunate, because this performance deserves that Oscar. Again, I will warn all of you that this film is not for everybody. On the one hand, the body horror is pretty disgusting, along the lines of the obvious inspiration of David Cronenberg's The Fly or Videodrome. It will also offend those with more prudish sensibilities. This movie has a LOT of graphic nudity and scene after scene of lingering on women's breasts, butts and legs. It is not for the squeamish or the ultra-conservative, but it IS a serious, profound and deep work that is so much more than the sum of its parts.