The Substance - Film Review

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Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley star as different versions of the same person in The Substance, the new body horror film from director Coralie Fargeat. Moore plays Elisabeth Sparkle, a television personality who faces irrelevance after being sacked from her top-rating aerobics show. Determined to cling to the limelight, Elisabeth tries The Substance, a radical cloning procedure which promises, with a few significant catches, a new and younger body. This eventually all goes horrifically wrong and the film ends in spectacular, blood-soaked farce.



Still very much a household name and still adorning billboards, Elisabeth Sparkle is shocked when she is unceremoniously dumped from her morning exercise show on her 50th birthday. Behind the move is her boss, a grotesque and misogynistic network television executive (played in completely over-the-top fashion by Dennis Quaid) who decrees that Elizabeth be replaced by a younger and perkier presenter. This is explained to Elisabeth in a whirlwind of scenes and abruptly she is out the door and onto the streets of Hollywood facing unemployment and oblivion.

Then Elisabeth becomes aware of a secretive process to reverse ageing. Sparked into action when she spots an ad seeking her replacement, Elisabeth applies for The Substance and is soon at a parcel locker in a seedy part of town. There she finds a box containing the treatment and minimalist yet authoritative directions on how to administer it. The Substance transforms Elisabeth's existence, allowing her in a very specific way to remain in the spotlight.

As The Substance unfolds the audience is confronted with a bonkers plot, a profuse amount of bodily fluids and litres of blood, all in service of offering comment on the disposability of women in society. The highlight of the entire exercise is Demi Moore. Her command of the screen here is total. A scene mid-way through where she is getting ready for a date and can't decide what to wear is easily the film's most compelling (interestingly, it's one of the few scenes rooted in realism, rather than the fantasy-horror which the majority of the film deals in). Margaret Qualley's turn as the tighter, flawless version of Moore is serviceable, though she has less to work with.

The Substance is a bold, original and visually striking film (it's also extra stomach-churning). At the same time, the film belabours its point, is way too long and features an ending which is really silly. Despite a script which is imaginative, the same themes get worked over and over for two-plus hours. Unsubtle is putting it mildly. It is true that some might welcome the far-out plot and the wacky scenes offered here. Horror fans might just dig the blood and gore. But others will see a too-long tangle of ideas which ultimately becomes exhausting.

The Substance is in cinemas September 19.
Click here for session times.

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