The Substance movie storyline. Elisabeth Sparkle, star of an aerobics show, is fired on her 50th birthday by her boss because of her age. When she returns home, her morale at its lowest, and she receives an unexpected proposal. A mysterious laboratory offers her a miraculous “substance”: if she injects it, she will become “the best version” of herself, “younger, more beautiful, more perfect”.
In The Substance, Demi Moore plays middle-aged fitness guru Elisabeth Sparkle, who is ousted from her workout empire by Dennis Quaid’s misogynistic exec Harvey. (If those character names aren’t unsubtle, I don’t know what is.)
In her despair, she’s introduced to a remedy called “The Substance” which, when injected, splits the cells of her body and creates a younger, better version of herself (played by Margaret Qualley). The catch? They must share custody of Elisabeth’s life, alternating weeks between them without exception. Naturally, the clone has other plans – and a bizarre fight for self-preservation ensues.
The Substance is a 2024 body horror film written and directed by Coralie Fargeat, and starring Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid. The film premiered on 19 May 2024 at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, and was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or in its main competition section, where Coralie Fargeat won the Best Screenplay award.
Film Review for The Substance
The Cannes Film Festival always has a few films which get people talking – and which also get people gasping, wincing, and laughing in disbelief. This year, one of those films is The Substance, a gleefully grisly horror comedy from Coralie Fargeat. The French writer-director didn’t hold back on gore and nudity in her debut, Revenge, but that film was positively prudish compared to its outrageous follow-up.
The Substance is a showbiz satire which applies a Charlie Kaufman-ish science-fiction concept to the themes of Sunset Boulevard. Its heroine, played by Demi Moore, is an actress named Elizabeth Sparkle – which gives you some idea of how little Fargeat cares about being subtle. A brilliant opening montage shows Elizabeth’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame go from being shiny and new to cracked and dirty as the years pass, just as Elizabeth goes from being an Oscar-winning A-lister to the host of a daytime aerobics television show. And even this role is taken from her when her boorish producer, played by Dennis Quaid, announces that it’s time for fresh meat.
In desperation, Elisabeth undergoes a mysterious DIY cloning process which causes a perky young doppelganger named Sue, played by Margaret Qualley, to emerge from her spine like a chick hatching from an egg. Yes, it’s as yucky as it sounds. Both women can’t be conscious at the same time, but as long as they make sure that they’re out and about for only a week at a time, before swapping places with their other self, then everything will be fine.
During Sue’s weeks, she can nab Elizabeth’s old television job and rise to superstardom, while her progenitor lies comatose in a secret room in her luxury apartment. And then, during Elizabeth’s weeks she can… well that’s the problem. Elizabeth isn’t sure what to do with her time, but she soon feels like the meek Doctor Jekyll to Sue’s roving Mr Hyde, or the portrait rotting in the attic while Dorian Gray is having a ball.
Fargeat’s twisted tale is good fun, especially if you like to hear squelching, cracking and crunching noises as gruesome things are done to human flesh. (Anyone with a fear of needles should avoid The Substance at all costs.) The film also offers attention-grabbing roles for all three of its stars.
Ripping into her best big-screen role in decades, Moore is fearless in parodying her public image, Qualley showcases a wicked sense of humour as Barbie’s evil twin, and Quaid hams it up joyously as an obnoxious, flashy-suited impresario. “Who has time to say that,” he demands, when he hears that his assistant is named Isabella. He decides to call her “Cindy” instead.
But for the majority of its two-and-a-bit hours, The Substance has lashings of style, but not much – you guessed it – substance. Fargeat is obsessed by the technicalities of cloning – hence all the squelching, cracking and crunching noises – but avoids all discussion of the company that provides it. Her satire is easy and obvious, too.
It’s no revelation that the entertainment, cosmetics and medical industries profit from fetishising attractive young women, and yet rather than examining the issue any more deeply, Fargeat makes the same rudimentary point over and over again – and she makes that point with leering close-ups of Qualley’s naked or semi-naked body. She may object to the way women are judged by their appearances, but appearances are all that these particular women have. We are invited to gaze at how smooth or how lined their skin is, but we aren’t shown their hopes or their histories, their friends or their relatives.
The Substance (2024)
Directed by: Coralie Fargeat
Starring: Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid, Hugo Diego Garcia, Phillip Schurer, Joseph Balderrama, Oscar Lesage, Tiffany Hofstetter, Vincent Colombe, Gore Abrams, Matthew Géczy
Screenplay by: Coralie Fargeat
Production Design by: Stanislas Reydellet
Cinematography by: Benjamin Kracun
Film Editing by: Coralie Fargeat, Jérôme Eltabet, Valentin Feron
Costume Design by: Emmanuelle Youchnovski
Set Decoration by: Cécilia Blom, Marion De Villechabrolle, Jacques Oursin
Art Direction by: Stéphane Becimol, Arnaud Denis, Gladys Garot, Amélie Meseguer, Julie Plumelle, Nathalie Vaïsse
Music by: Raffertie
MPAA Rating: R for strong bloody violent content, gore, graphic nudity and language.
Distributed by: Mubi (United States and United Kingdom), Metropolitan Filmexport (France)
Release Date: May 19, 2024 (Cannes), September 20, 2024 (United States)
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