My childhood best friend and I went to see The Substance on Saturday night. Neither of us knew much about the movie (starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley), aside from watching the trailer and hearing it was pretty intense, but we were keen.
Over two hours later, we exited the cinema and sat on the couches in the foyer to unpack what the fuck had just happened.
Neither of us had formed a proper opinion, we were still recovering. “I think I liked it?” I told her, before sharing that I thought Demi looked amazing but that every time I saw Margaret on screen I felt bad about myself. I recognised instantly that this was a pretty problematic takeaway from the film, but after two-plus hours of being gratuitously hit over the head by the tyranny of ageing as a woman, it tracked.
It felt fitting that the two of us saw this movie together, given we’ve been friends since prep and have experienced childhood into teenagehood into adulthood together. Now, in our early thirties, we’re confronted more than ever with the notion that ageing is the worst thing a woman can do. This decade of our lives seems to revolve around botox, biological clocks, and holding onto our “last fuckable years” before we’re deemed invisible from the male gaze (which sounds quite nice, actually).
So, to watch a film about a 50-year-old woman who goes to drastic measures to reclaim her youth after being aged out of her career was unsettling. But that was the exact intention of the film.
French director Coralie Fargeat created a visceral atmosphere not for the faint of heart. If you’re squeamish, this movie is not for you, as every sight and sound is heightened to maximise discomfort. Though filmed in France, the movie depicts what feels like Hollywood, and aside from the use of certain technology, it feels deliberately vague as to what year this movie is meant to take place. I think this could be to represent the fact that issues of sexism and ageism feel timeless, but hey, that might be a reach.
Demi Moore’s character, Elisabeth Sparkle, gets fired from her job as a television aerobics instructor (after an implied successful and illustrious movie career) on her fiftieth birthday, which leads to both a downward spiral and a chance encounter with a young doctor who informs her of a mysterious product that she might appreciate. He surreptitiously hands her a USB that she later plugs into her television, and it’s an advertisement for “The Substance”.
“Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself? Younger, more beautiful, more perfect. One single injection unlocks your DNA, and will release another version of yourself. This is The Substance,” she learns.
Though initially disinterested, the aforementioned spiral leads to her obtaining the substance (which feels very black market given she retrieves it from a mysterious location down a dodgy alleyway). Creators of The Substance (who remain anonymous and are only reachable by phone), warn her of very specific rules. She can only take the initial activation dose once, she and her younger self will each exist for seven days at a time, and while they are two separate entities, they are the same person. The unactivated version will survive on seven days worth of sustenance, packaged into individual daily serves and fed intravenously.
Nothing could have prepared me for watching the scene where Elisabeth activates The Substance. After injecting herself, she collapses in horrific pain, her back splits open and she essentially births her younger self. This is where we meet Margaret’s character, who calls herself Sue. Sue stitches Elisabeth (who remains unconscious) back up, and goes about her business.
The next day, Sue – who could do anything with this new beautiful self – marches straight into her old job and gets hired as Elisabeth’s replacement (under the proviso that she gets every second week off to “take care of her ailing mother”). The boss of the station (named Harvey, no less), is played by Dennis Quad, who is remarkably disgusting. He is loud and brash and a sexist asshole, essentially representing the oppressive system the women in this (and the) world are up against. He is astounded by Sue and cannot wait to both ogle and exploit her beauty. She is instantly sexualised on the show, contrasted with the demure tone of Elisabeth’s workouts.
As you could have predicted, things start to get messy as Elisabeth and Sue begin alternating weeks of existence. When Elisabeth emerges for the first time since her seven-day snooze (each woman is essentially in a coma on their off week), she learns of Sue’s success and instantly feels resentful. The more Sue flourishes, the more invisible Elisabeth is left feeling. It leads to her mostly retreating in their apartment, binge-eating and watching television. Conversely, whenever Sue is present, she’s angered by Elisabeth’s slovenly behaviour.
When Sue decides to break the rules and extend her week by a day, Elisabeth suffers the consequences. Elisabeth reaches out to grab the post-it on the window left by one of Sue’s suitors, and she (and the audience) are shocked to discover her right hand has aged immensely. As like most things in this movie, the hand isn’t just older, it’s grotesque. It looks like a picture from a cigarette packet warning you of the dangers of smoking. I wonder if the men in the cinema reacted the way the women did (what woman hasn’t been warned of the horrors of ageing hands?)
When Sue is offered to host the station’s New Year’s Eve live special, she takes matters into her own, youthful hands, rigging the system by draining Elisabeth’s body to stabilise her own, and feeding her as much sustenance she can find. We see a three-month time-jump, and while Sue is glowing, Elisabeth is left horrifically decrepit.
Absolutely furious at Sue, she calls The Substance hotline to complain. When they ask if she wants to opt out, she is mailed The Substance for termination. After injecting the unconscious Sue, she immediately regrets it, realising that Sue is all she has now. Through her animosity, Elisabeth forces herself to remember that Sue is her, so one version of herself may as well be successful and adored. She grabs her supplied medical gear and transfers their blood.
For the first time, both Elisabeth and Sue are existing simultaneously, but not for long, as a furious and disgusted Sue violently attacks Elisabeth, leaving her for dead. This leads to the film’s horrifically gruesome (albeit, darkly comical) climax. Getting ready for the New Year’s Eve live show, Sue starts deteriorating. Her teeth fall out, followed by her nails, and even an ear. Desperate and in pain, she sneaks home and injects herself with the initial activation Substance, and morphs into what the film calls “Monstro Elisasue”, a demonic, grotesque monster.
Ever the consummate professional, Monstro heads to the show in a disguise, but is outed as a monster on stage. Carnage breaks loose as the audience flee, screaming in horror, and while bystanders attempt to kill the monster, it isn’t until she escapes that she eventually disintegrates into liquid form and dies.
Though I wasn’t sure how the film was going to end, I guess they had to go balls to the wall body-horror and double down. While Monstro obviously represented the demise of Elisabeth and Sue, I didn’t need a monster to scare me. The themes of the movie were frightening enough.
I think it’s genius to make a horror film about ageing (particularly when most horror films focus on the very opposite concept, dying), however, I feel like this could have easily been a psychological thriller. I’m not a big fan of fantastical films (anything sci-fi kinda weirds me out) so when things got extremely exaggerated to appease the horror genre fans, it took me out of the story a bit. I think the most confronting scenes happened prior to the movie’s final act. The unbridled pursuit of youth and beauty. The yearning to be seen, and the power that comes with it. The idea that our older selves suffer the consequences of our younger selves.
And the fact that this movie was created during a time when women of all ages around the world are injecting themselves with a certain weight-loss injection doesn’t help the discomfort.
In one scene that stood out to me, Elisabeth finds the phone number of an old high school friend who she’d run into prior to taking The Substance. He’s dorky but lovely, and clearly thinks highly of his old classmate, “the big celebrity”. In need of some validation and adoration, she decides to give him a call. She gets all dressed up for their eight o’clock date, including some chic gloves she wears strategically to hide her aged right hand.
Looking in the mirror, Elisabeth looks happy with herself and her appearance. As she goes to leave, she rushes back to wipe her lipstick off, replacing it with Sue’s lipgloss. We see the clock ticking, as eight approaches, and we watch her run back to the bathroom multiple times to alter her appearance. The scene ends with Elisabeth furiously scrubbing her face raw, and standing up her date. It was the moments of realism scattered throughout the film that I found the most compelling, because who hasn’t stood in front of the mirror, self-destructing under the crippling weight of looking “perfect”?
It’s been days now since watching The Substance, and both my friend and I (who I messaged whilst writing this piece) are still unpacking what the fuck happened. It’s like a combination of both existential dread and appreciation that these themes are being explored.
What I do know is that I felt instantly relieved when I googled the movie and discovered that Sue’s perfect chest was created with prosthetics, so I think it’s safe to say that the horror of female beauty standards left an impact.
Written by Lil Friedmann, who promises not to google tits on work time again. You can follow her at @lilfriedmann on socials.
Image credit: The Substance + Punkee
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