Rent The Substance on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Coralie Fargeat
Directed by: Coralie Fargeat
Starring: Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid
Rated: R
Watch the trailer
Plot
A fading celebrity takes a black-market drug: a cell-replicating substance that helps her create a younger, better version of herself.
Verdict
This is a wild ride. The core theme is beauty and age standards in Hollywood, how that distorts perspectives, and how far you'd go to be young and desirable again. That's the currency in Hollywood. The visuals can be striking and gross; this is one of the most visually upsetting movies I've seen. It's body horror with lots of blood, gore, and fluids. While you have an idea of how the plot will progress, what you see is always a shock. I kept thinking we were in the final scene, only for the movie to continue with yet another scene more over the top than the last. It is an experience. My verdict is tempered only by how stomach turning the visuals can be. It can easily make you squeamish.
Watch it.
Review
We see the career of Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) through a static shot of her Hollywood Walk of Fame star, from the installation and fans taking photos to the toll time takes as it begins to age and crack. Soon passers by don't even recognize her name, spilling food on the aged star. It's an effective metaphor.
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| Demi Moore plays Elisabeth Sparkle |
Elisabeth finishes filming an aerobics video and walks down the studio hall, posters of a younger her lining the walls indicating the length of her career. That's punctuated by overhearing her agent on a phone call telling the other person Elisabeth is too old. He wants someone new and young. Her agent is older than she is, but the rules are different for men and women in the industry.
By happenstance she's introduced to this drug, The Substance, that promises a better, younger you. Through odd phone calls and cryptic messages that most would consider a scam, Elisabeth can't ignore the promises. Her show is ending, and she's desperate to stay relevant. The movie probes how far someone would go to be young and maintain unrealistic beatuy standards. What would you do to hold onto youth? This drug offers the proverbial fountain of youth. To Moore's credit, she's vulnerable; showing her age, wrinkles, and body. The movie doesn't do any favors in trying to diminish that.
It's wild that a whole person can pop out of Elisabeth like that, but this isn't a movie tied to science. Inexplicably, there are now two Elisabeths. My immediate question is how does she switch back, but that's answered soon enough. My next question concerned money. We don't see Elisabeth pay for this drug. I wondered if the company gives you enough drug for one week so that you're hooked and then willing to pay any amount. That's another thing with which this movie isn't concerned. What this movie likes is to be graphic and gross; getting close ups of punctures, wounds, and even eating.
Elisabeth dubs her younger alter ego Sue (Margaret Qualley). The instructions are clear you must switch back every seven days, but I knew Elisabeth would rather be Sue. What happens if she's not diligent? Sue takes over Elisabeth's aerobics show. The producers are all too happy to let her work seven days and take seven off. Sue is the new 'it girl.' While the movie showed all of Elisabeth's imperfections, it paints Sue as a blemish free.
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| Margaret Qualley plays Sue |
Inevitably Sue tries to push the seven day transfer limit, and things take a turn. The original body prematurely ages. The bodies don't share a consciousness. They don't know what the other does. Or so I thought. We see another user of the substance, and he remembers what happened in his other body. This seems to be a wrinkle to make the movie work. Of course Sue is going to seek fun at the expense of her older self. Elisabeth is upset at the lack of control and further destruction to her body.
Elisabeth wants validation. She hoped Sue would make her feel relevant, instead her insecurities grow. Elisabeth gorges herself, and Sue becomes irate at sharing the body. As the voice on the phone states, they are one body. Sue's fame skyrockets, and she refuses to switch back. We know that will leave Elisabeth's body ravaged, if she ever gets back. Despite everything happening and what it's doing to her body, Elisabeth won't stop taking the drug. She's deteriorating before our eyes.
It becomes clear that Sue can only coast without switching for so long. That's about what happen, but the big question is what's next. The company states you can't get back what you lost. Elisabeth can't undo the damage, and staying as Sue is unsustainable.
This movie is an experience. It's certainly horror and a look at the cost of beauty standards, but this is gross and there are plenty of revolting sequences. Elisabeth thinks she's only worthy when she's young and pretty. That's what drives the plot, and the problem is that Elisabeth and Sue are one yet Elisabeth hates herself. That's why or how Sue took advantage of Elisabeth.
It's such a wild ride. While it can be predictable, what you see is always a surprise. I kept wondering if we were watching the final sequence. I thought this is the send off, and then the movie would keep going and become even more intense. Each sequence is more unreal. When it finally concludes, it's almost disorienting.
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