TIFF Review: The Danger of Youth and the Betrayal of the Body in ‘The Substance’

Who doesn’t want the chance to look and feel younger? Those are two separate things that often go together, and the former is often more important because self-worth doesn’t always affect how someone is perceived by others. Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance follows a woman who gets the chance to be young again, which of course comes with a catch that seems like it won’t be a problem but most definitely is. This nightmarish body horror movie is magnificently-constructed, inviting audiences down a twisted path of material madness towards an over-the-top but fitting finish.

Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) headlines a popular fitness show, with her face lining the long halls of the studio where she works tirelessly each day. On her fiftieth birthday, she’s told by studio head Harvey (Dennis Quaid) that she’s being replaced by someone younger, a decision in which she has no say. After being involved in a car accident on her way home, Elisabeth is told by a nurse about The Substance, an opportunity to be young again. The rules are simple: there are injections and food packs that allow for the new, younger body to function for a week and the existing body to take over for the next week. Switching is critical, and both halves are not separate but part of the same person. What could possibly go wrong?

Even before Elisabeth makes the desperate choice to order The Substance, this film establishes an extremely memorable and distinct look and style. The way in which Elisabeth walks through the world feels very lonely, and she wraps herself in a brightly-colored coat each time she goes to her locker to get a new shipment of injections and food packs, hiding under a protective cape that makes her even more invisible than she already is. Close-ups on Harvey stuffing his face with shrimp highlight how disgusting a person he is, on top of Quaid’s already enthusiastic and vulgar performance, and Benjamin Kracun’s cinematography emphasizes the length of that hallway and the increasing distance of achievable fame and success.

All that changes when Sue (Margaret Qualley) emerges. She’s everything that Elisabeth isn’t, but theoretically what she was two or so decades earlier. She effortlessly gets the job as Elisabeth’s replacement, playing into just what Harvey wants not only because she knows what to do but because that’s what she is. She’s Elisabeth’s ideal version of herself, able to recreate her past with only the positive parts and be seen in a society defined by impossible beauty standards. Best of all, she’s having a blast, far more deserving of a last name like Sparkle than the Elisabeth seen at any point in the film. 

Seeing the two different facets of this character is interesting enough on its own, but this film goes much further. The physical transformation that Elisabeth undergoes to birth Sue is an involved and grotesque one, the first warning audiences should heed for graphic content. There is a pitch-black humor to how the inactive body is preserved, lying naked and open-mouthed on a hard bathroom floor after violently crashing down after each injection. Sue’s love for her life prompts the first misstep, the taking of unallocated time, which results in one of Elisabeth’s fingers shriveling up and aging decades beyond the rest of her body. Told over the phone by a monotone voice that what has been done cannot be undone, even if she ends the experience, Elisabeth sets in motion a vicious cycle of competitive cruelty, a battle of wits and war between two halves of a whole who can’t come face-to-face.

The Substance is gripping and engrossing just as much as it gross, and as its characters become obsessed with punishing each other for perceived slights, it opts not to stop at a reasonable or mildly believable spot, shifting instead in tone to reveal the almost comedic monstrosity of this premise. It’s a marvel to behold, even if it does test the limits of patience as a viewer. Running two hours and twenty minutes, there are moments at which it feels like it’s pushing things too far, not utilizing filler content but instead attempting to elevate its plot even more.

Its final resolution is one that proves memorable and satisfying, provided that audiences can stomach the half-hour or so that comes before it, both physically and intellectually. Moore and Qualley are perfectly-paired, both at very different points in their careers but able to draw out much more than just the physical from their committed performances here. Fargeat’s second feature is a haunting meditation on beauty standards and the lengths people will go to in order to look young and stay relevant, executed in a manner that couldn’t be any further from meditation.

Movie Rating: 8/10

Awards Buzz: Moore would certainly be worth of her first Oscar nomination for this forceful and daring performance, and Qualley is typically terrific too. Whether audiences can get past the genre is another question.