Watched: 02/19/2025
Format: 4K disc (SimonUK's disc)
Viewing: First
Director/ Writer: Coralie Fargeat
Worst. Shazam movie. Ever.
Let me start by saying, I quite liked The Substance (2024). I'm not sure what's going on at the Academy that this got a best picture nom, my confusion mostly stemming from the fact this is a satirical body horror movie and that sort of thing doesn't usually get nominated over Very Serious Pictures(tm) - but I am thrilled for everyone involved and for this movie getting the nod.
I was unimpressed with the original trailer for the movie, and then after the movie came out, Simon told me he'd already seen it a few times,* and then later said he'd seen it four - and I was supposed to see it with him on his 5th viewing. However, I went to the wrong theater. SO. Tonight he brought over his new disc and we watched it.
On paper, this movie is what I figured from the trailers - to a point. And it is all along the way more entertaining, bizarre, fascinating and generally better than I expected.
The only prior Coralie Fargeat movie I'd previously seen was Revenge, which I don't remember well, just that it lost me at some point and didn't win me back. But re-reading my own review to refresh my memory - I can see a loose breadcrumb trail that led to The Substance, and what Fargeat was doing with Revenge that maybe didn't work for me but landed well with me in this instance.
It's not often I'll say this, but: this movie is about as subtle as a bag of hammers falling on your head, and yet that's part of what makes it work. It's absolutely about what it's about, and it does not have time to try to get you to get it - it has it's one shot to get in front of you and tell you what it wants to tell you, and it does it well.
Demi Moore is about to enjoy yet another act in her career on the heels of this movie, and with good reason. She was always talented (One Crazy Summer, anyone?), and famously attractive. That she would even sign up for this movie shows a crazy amount of bravery and that she has a good therapist.
Co-star Margaret Qualley is breaking out over the past couple of years, and seems to be setting herself up for a solid career if she can avoid the usual pitfalls.
What the movie is about, plotwise, is former Hollywood big deal, Elisabeth Sparkle (Moore), has seen her star descend to the point where she's been mostly doing a morning exercise show for some time. But now at 50, she's being put out to pasture by the network, and they're looking for someone young and hot. Elisabeth is told of a mysterious "Substance" which she can sign up for that will enable her to feel young again.
Who is providing the Substance - seemingly for free - and why is anyone's guess, and in this movie and with its vibe, we're not going to know, and it doesn't matter. What does matter is that the Substance will make a younger, more perfect version of you emerge grotesquely from your own body, leaving your body inert and semi-lifeless on the floor while the new You will be out living the fast, fun life of a young person, looking hot and being sexy.
Elisabeth's alter-ego emerges as Sue (Qualley) and with Elisabeth's drive and fresh, hot new looks, she manages to land the job that Elisabeth had and held for years as the face of morning aerobics.
By the way, Dennis Quaid is a maniac in this movie. I assume he hit a Dennis Quaid 10 energy level, and then the director said "actually, do twice that level of mania", and we got what's one of the weirdest Quaid performances and most enjoyable he's been in this century. He plays the absolute @#$%ing asshole of a studio exec who clearly is here as a one note version of what men in positions of power do to women and how they see them - as sexy commodities. Again, in no way subtle, but it works.
There are Gremlins-like rules about what needs to happen for Elisabeth and Sue to co-exist. They need to provide a seven-day food-bag intravenously for each other, and they need to swap out every seven days.. or else.
The power dynamics are immediately unworkable - while they may share some knowledge of what the other is doing, they can't control what the other does. Sue wants to be young and free to enjoy her new stardom and all it brings. Elisabeth wants to enjoy a taste of that, but quickly begins to resent herself - as well as that Sue's recklessness can injure her. And she descends during her seven days, going from feeling unattractive (she is not) to physically changing based on Sue's extension of her time away.
And I think this is why this movie was beloved by Hollywood enough to wind up as a Best Picture contender. Intellectually, we can all get the appeal of being able to be some younger version of ourselves, but the pull to relive our youth and reclaim what it was like is maybe not as strong with those of us who maybe were not as lauded for our amazing looks and talent as a 20-something. In youth-obsessed Hollywood, this whole idea might land a bit harder or with more gravity as stars struggle to remain in their mid-20's forever. And they all kind of know what the career arc can be for a woman in the industry.
Fargeat's visual language in the movie is winky sometimes, poking you to go ahead and make those comparisons to Kubrick's Overlook bathrooms and color palette - and if she is, making it part of the commentary, not just borrowing - but asking for a comparison. Even the injection of the Substance itself is meant to look like the green juice from Re-Animator. She takes centering the images to heart, and isn't shy about suggesting we're looking through Elisabeth's POV - after all, what these characters see is why they do things. And so Elisabeth and Sue live and work in what feel like what the kids would call liminal spaces. Elisabeth's home itself is a nightmare of architecture with solid colored walls - playing with palettes as Elisabeth herself goes forth in a canary yellow coat, from her deep blue hall. Our studio is a solid, rich tomato color.
And, of course, the sound and music are all mood and vibes, carrying us along Elisabeth and Sue's POV's.
The movie does an amazing job of making nudity (or which there is ample supply) unappealing as the eye of film is not necessarily male-gazey, but part of Elisabeth and Sue seeing themselves. It's either Elisabeth morbidly depressed over how she thinks she no longer looks how she once did (and Moore looks amazing, playing 10 years younger than she really is, to the point where it kinda really makes the points about throwing away a woman at 50 because of a number feel all the more potent), or Sue perversely delighting in her unnaturally obtained form. Throw in a somehow perfect leer into each male-gazey shot of Sue and the aerobics team (and later supporting dancers) and you start cringing about butts, stomachs, thighs and boobs as the film moves on.
SPOILERS
I did not see the third act coming the way it did. And, holy shit, was that good movies. Yeah, on the nose and perfect and utterly shocking (to me). If you're going to hit people with a bag of hammers to make a point, might as well come in swinging with a sledge hammer to drive those points home.
Amazing, hilarious, upsetting...
And a reminder that for all but the very, very fortunate few, time will forget you, you are replaceable, and clinging to that past is all sick and pointless. The people who fawn over you are there for the buck they can make from you, not because they actually adore you. St. Vincent's "Los Ageless" taken to the extreme.
I don't care about the Oscars, but find it delightful this is in contention.
*my man SimonUK likes a good body horror film
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