Writer-director Coralie Fargeat made a big, bold, bloody splash with her 2017 debut feature Revenge, a smart, feminist take on the rape-revenge thriller that is stylish, riveting, and extremely violent. All three of those adjectives apply tenfold to her follow-up, a horrific, hilarious vision of hell that should become a modern body-horror classic in no time flat. The Substance is so masterful and ambitious it is hard to believe it only took seven years to come to fruition.
Another comeback I didn’t know we’d all been missing for far too long is that of Demi Moore, last notable as an unfortunate punchline at the 2022 Oscars, here delivering a fearless, ferocious performance that should get her a more respectful mention in 2025. It seems unlikely the Academy would dare to recognize a movie of such intensity and uncompromising vision, but I never thought Everything Everywhere All At Once would be an Oscar champ either, until it happened.
Equally brilliant are Moore’s co-lead, Margaret Qualley (very quickly rising to the top of my favorite young actors list after her work in Poor Things, Drive-Away Dolls, and Kinds of Kindness), and especially Dennis Quaid, almost literally chewing scenery as the sleazy manager of Moore’s Elisabeth Sparkle. His eyes and teeth are reminiscent of a shark’s as he grins and shouts his way through the role, a paradigm of toxic masculinity writ large; he, like show business itself, is perpetually on the hunt for fresh prey.
Elisabeth is an Oscar-winning actress who is past her prime, now hosting a TV aerobics show that has begun to wane in popularity. For the unforgivable sin of turning 50, she is fired and then, distracted by the sight of a billboard for her show being torn down, she is minorly injured in a car accident. While at the hospital, she becomes aware of the titular substance via a notably young and attractive nurse who tells her it changed his life. Initially skeptical, Elisabeth soon enough gives in to the promise of a younger, better version of herself and places an order.
If David Cronenberg were to take on the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the initial transformation might resemble the tremendously visceral sequence in which “Sue” (Qualley), the younger version of Elisabeth’s essential self, is literally birthed out of her spinal column, leaving Elisabeth’s body unconscious on the bathroom floor. Once over the initial shock, Sue must administer a week’s worth of intravenous food to this semi-cadaver, for that is how long she has to live in the young, eminently desirable body before switching back for the following week. “Respect the balance,” she is warned, and don’t you just know the warning will go unheeded before long?
Most people, especially those of us who enjoy drinking to excess, have had the feeling of being betrayed by our past selves, having shown no regard in our reckless debauchery for the consequences to be wrought on our future selves. This is literalized and taken to grotesque extremes in the weekly exchange of consciousness and autonomy between Elisabeth and Sue, and the grotesquery only escalates as Sue continues to disrespect the balance.
It would be a shame to reveal more of the wild, unpredictable narrative, but it is certainly not for the faint of heart. Fargeat expertly balances the splatter with a meticulous sense of control and a razor-sharp eye for composition. The Substance is a Grand Guignol nightmare that delights with every gluttonous frame.
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