The Substance - Review: A Bizarre, Bold, and Repulsive Descent into Body Horror

The Substance (2024)

A Bizarre, Bold, and Repulsive Descent into Body Horror

★★★☆☆

A riveting performance showcase trapped in a dizzying cycle of shock value.

Lucky 13 Review

The Substance

Directed by Coralie Fargeat • 2024

Release Date

September 20, 2024

Rotten Tomatoes

91%

Letterboxd Score

4.2/5

Running Time

2h 21m

Official Synopsis

Elisabeth Sparkle, a fading celebrity aerobics icon, is abruptly fired from her television network job by her sexist boss as she hits a milestone birthday. Desperate to recapture her youth and cultural relevance, she turns to a mysterious black-market medical treatment known as "The Substance." Through a gruesome cellular replication process, Elisabeth births a gorgeous, younger version of herself named Sue. The system holds one unbreakable rule: they must alternate every seven days without exception. When Sue begins overextending her timeline to feed her own vanity, the delicate biological balance fractures into a grotesque, hallucinatory nightmare of physical degradation.

Expanded Ensemble

• Demi Moore as Elisabeth Sparkle
• Margaret Qualley as Sue
• Dennis Quaid as Harvey
• Gore Abrams as Oliver
• Hugo Diego Garcia as Diego
• Edward Hamilton-Clark as Fred

Expanded Architects

• Director: Coralie Fargeat
• Screenplay: Coralie Fargeat
• Producers: Coralie Fargeat, Eric Fellner, Tim Bevan
• Cinematography: Benjamin Kracun
• Film Editors: Coralie Fargeat, Jerome Eltabet, Valentin Feron
• Music Composer: Raffertie

Official Promotional Trailer

Production Info & Specifications

Financial Budget	$17.5 Million
Global Box Office	$43.1 Million
Capture Format	Digital (ARRI ALEXA Mini LF) • 2.39:1 Anamorphic Layout
Primary Locations	Paris, France (Studio Sets) • Los Angeles, California, USA
Production Label	MUBI • Working Title Films • A Good Story

"The film could have actually been more effective as a 45 minute Twilight Zone or Black Mirror episode. Instead of an excruciating and prolonged 2 hour and 20 minutes runtime."

— Ray Manukay

🎬 Cast & Crew

• Director/Writer: Coralie Fargeat
• Starring: Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley
• Supporting: Dennis Quaid
• Special Effects: Pierre-Olivier Persin

The Vision

The film functions primarily as a cinematic and performance showcase. Demi Moore delivers a riveting, career-defining performance, matched by the intensity of Margaret Qualley. Yet, the satire often feels like it has surface-level depth, relying heavily on grotesque makeup execution and morbid imagery rather than witty or clever commentary. It is a bleak, depressingly long journey that prioritizes the "shriek" over the "story."

🎬 Cinephile Fun Facts

• Cannes Sensation: Coralie Fargeat won the Best Screenplay award at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival for this divisive work.
• Practical Mastery: The film relies heavily on practical effects and prosthetics to achieve its most nauseating sequences, eschewing heavy CGI for a more visceral impact.
• Sound Design: The aggressive sound editing was designed to make the biological "squelching" noises as immersive and uncomfortable as possible for the audience.

✅ Pros

• Riveting, brave performances by Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley.
• Incredible special effects and grotesque makeup execution.
• Bold, uncompromising directorial vision.

❌ Cons

• Excruciatingly long runtime that leads to narrative drag.
• Over-reliance on shock value at the expense of plot depth.
• Unlikable characters and a depressingly bleak tone.

The Full Analysis

The Substance is an often bizarre, bold, and disturbing cinematic experience that attempts to tackle heavy themes revolving around fame, aging, sexism, and body dysmorphia. The film dives deep into the media's toxic obsession with youth and beauty, while exploring the darker side of greed and life regrets. However, even though these themes are important and worthwhile, it does not necessarily mean the film is an enjoyable watch. In fact, The Substance is quite the opposite, as the story is designed to be revolting, nausea-inducing, and dizzying to the point of total repulsion.

The movie does feature some impressive performances, particularly from Margaret Qualley and a truly riveting Demi Moore, who anchors the visceral madness with raw vulnerability. Despite their best efforts, the plot left me asking what the ultimate purpose of the exercise was. The characters are uniformly unlikable, and the black comedy satire lacks the wit or cleverness needed to be truly effective. The visuals are frequently disgusting, offering only surface-level depth, and the narrative suffers from an over-reliance on pure shock value. The story is also depressingly bleak, dragging on for far longer than the premise can sustain.

The film could have potentially been more effective as a tight, forty-five-minute Twilight Zone or Black Mirror episode, rather than an excruciating and prolonged two-hour and twenty-minute runtime. In the end, the production comes off as more of a performance and technical showcase for the director, the special effects crew, and the two lead performers. There is simply not enough substance in the plot to make the film truly great, special, or emotionally moving in any lasting way.

Ultimately, if a viewer is specifically seeking a film with strong special effects, morbidly shocking images, and grotesque makeup execution, then The Substance is the perfect choice for them. For everyone else, it remains a powerfully invigorating but hollow journey that prioritizes its visceral gore over a meaningful narrative arc. It is a cinematic purge that demands attention for its audacity, yet leaves the audience feeling as though they have endured an ordeal rather than experienced a story.

🏆 Final Verdict

If you are seeking morbid imagery and a masterclass in special effects, The Substance delivers. But for those looking for a moving story with narrative "meat," the experience may feel more like a prolonged endurance test.

View original review on Letterboxd