Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance” is the most electrifying cinematic experience of the year, and I would be shocked if anything comes along that can match its unique brand of freak.
Following the story of a fading fitness star (Demi Moore) who uses a black market injection to become a younger, fitter version of herself (Margaret Qualley), “The Substance” is tantalizing cinema from the first frames. A pair of opening sequences, one featuring chemicals injected into an egg yolk creating an insta-twin yolk, and the other, a time-lapse of the life and decay of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, set the table for a story told with righteous anger and a bloody, self-destructive rage that is as entertaining to witness as it is heartbreaking to contemplate the relevancy of. “The Substance” is the most effective brand of horror, presenting our bodies for the flimsy skin suits they are while eviscerating the modern obsession with youth and delivering a bombastic, bloody climax that needs to be seen to be believed.
The heart of the movie is a shattering performance by Demi Moore. You’d be forgiven for thinking the movie star and cultural icon was easing into the late period of her career with nice pop-ins on TV Shows and polite retrospectives. But you would be decidedly wrong. This performance, a full-bodied and brutal display of fury, self-loathing, and primal athleticism, is what the phrase ‘tour de force’ was coined for. Moore consumes the film in an often wordless performance as eighties fitness icon Elisabeth Sparkle, exuding with a look or the simple deflation of a plastered-on smile the yawning decaying loneliness of her life from being a worldwide sexual icon to becoming a forgotten relic of a now cadaverous era. When offered the chance to reclaim that status by a mysterious product known as The Substance, Sparkle doesn’t hesitate. What value does she have if she isn’t young and beautiful? In the end, she’s no different from the throngs of fans who loved and abandoned her; commodifying her body as if we all do not eventually end up in the same place regardless of youth, muscle mass, or tautness of skin, rotting in the dirt with the worms.
The rules of “The Substance” are laid out in an elegant manner that every member of the audience can easily understand. Moore’s Elisabeth is told to inject a solution that forms the “perfect” version of herself, literally birthed out of her back like a reverse chest-burster. Once both bodies are free, each gets one week to live before trading to the other for another week. That is the balance, though one quickly upended by Elisabeth’s “perfect version” in the form of Margaret Qualley’s Sue. Margaret Qualley is having quite a 2024, giving fantastic and diverse performances in “Drive-Away Dolls” and “Kinds of Kindness,” along with last year’s “Poor Things.” As Sue, Qualley embodies the short-sighted nature of youth where bodies are forever lithe and consequences are perpetually someone else’s problem. There isn’t a better modern foil for Moore than Qualley. The pair make an incredible team playing different versions of the same character, so much so that the audience eagerly awaits when their collision course reaches its final, violent crescendo. Rounding out the cast is Dennis Quaid in a role that is as good as he has ever been. Playing an oafish, preening TV Network Executive simply named Harvey, Quaid uses his iconic movie star smile to grotesque effect; presenting a disgusting Cheshire Cat of a man who treats Elisabeth like last week’s trash and Sue as a new toy for oggling and exploition. It’s a hoot every time he’s on screen and genuinely nice to see him having so much fun.
Writer/Director Coralie Fargeat cites David Cronenberg (“The Fly”), John Carpenter (“The Thing”), and David Lynch (“The Elephant Man”) as some of her main inspirations, and echoes of these influences can be felt throughout “The Substance,” reconfigured and blended together into something fresh, new, and dare I say “perfect.” If I’m tap dancing around plot details, that’s on purpose. It isn’t that “The Substance” features any twists in the Shamylan sense. Anyone who can track the trajectory of ‘science gone wrong’ movies could approximate where the film is ultimately heading. But whatever you are imagining, whatever heights of body horror you believe are the limit, “The Substance” exceeds them in glorious fashion. Rarely does a film somehow balance theme, story and bloody titillation in such winning measure into this effective an unholy concoction of cinematic synergy. At my screening, the audience was cringing and cackling and cheering throughout, leading to what I am sure will be my favorite final image of a film this year. I can’t remember the last time I had a better experience at the movies.
You’ve never seen anything quite like “The Substance” and you should rectify that as soon as possible.
You’ll be glad you did!
“The Substance” is NOW SHOWING at The Broad Theater and Prytania Theatres at Canal Place.
