“The Substance” Is Poised To Become A Horror/Sci-Fi Classic

Have you ever been on a yo-yo diet? Where you lose weight rapidly, then fall off the wagon and gain it all back, and sometimes more? If you have, you’re not alone - statistically, the vast majority of diets fail.

I was no different - I spent years wrestling with my diet and health in general. Recently, however, I have stuck to a consistently healthy diet and exercise regime for the first time in my life and have sustained this for over three months. What changed? Really, it was my outlook and mental state rather than anything physical. I stopped trying to lose weight from a place of self-hatred, a place of despising my body.

If you hate yourself, it’s easy to throw in the towel after a moment of weakness where you drank too much, or skipped the gym, or binged on unearthly foods; to condemn yourself as unworthy and unable to reach your goals anyway. This time around, I made an effort to love my body as it was. I stopped alienating my current self from my future, healthiest self and recognized that we are the same person. Future, healthy me loves the me of now and wants me to treat myself with compassion when I make a mistake.

I also stopped comparing myself to others, because my healthiest body might look different from a model’s body (and model bodies are often quite unhealthy). I also decided to start strengthening my body, so that in my old age I could remain more mobile and independent. I knew the me of later would thank the me of now.

“The Substance” was a timely watch in light of my recent journey. Some people have theorized that the purpose of horror is to undergo trauma-like responses and confront our greatest fears, experience our natural instincts of fight or flight, but in a safe environment where you can leave the situation if you need to. Never has that been truer than in watching “The Substance.” I felt as if I was flung face-first into a wall and forced to confront my relationship with myself, my relationship with womanhood, and my relationship with aging all at once in the most gruesome manner possible.

I will only summarize the film at a high level, as the element of surprise is quite important for the viewer. Demi Moore plays Elizabeth, an aging actress and morning show exercise host who, upon turning 50, starts to experience serious ageism and misogyny in an industry well known for both practices. Hating herself and wishing for the past, she stumbles upon an illicit drug that will allow her to experience being young again in the form of an attractive rising starlet named Sue.

Sue and Elizabeth exist as two halves of a whole person, though only one can be conscious at a time. Slowly, the two sides begin to tear each other apart. It is the ultimate exploration of what can happen to a person, especially a woman, who exists in a place of self-hatred in regard to her own body. Perhaps if Elizabeth could have healed, as I have recently, and come to value herself in all her forms, this splitting of self would not have been so disastrous.

There’s so much going on in “The Substance.” It’s about aging, it’s about the male gaze, it’s about being replaced by younger, bouncier cool girls. It’s about the fickleness of adoration and fame. It’s about stealing from your older self when you overly indulge as a younger person. It’s about tradeoffs and irreversible consequences for decisions that are often made on a whim. It’s about taking your past or future self for granted. When you’re younger, you often lack stability and maturity, but you have your youth and take it as a given - and when you’re older, you might take stability or maturity as a given, but no longer have beauty (and all the societal advantages beauty grants) on your side.

In terms of storytelling, “The Substance” is simple, almost allegorical and fantastical in nature. The universe has roots in reality but has departed from it and turned inward - it’s a direct exploration of Elizabeth and Sue’s inner turmoil, and we see the world through her distorted lens. Bold placards, enormous billboards, faceless crowds of older white men who control the television station.

The sound design, the colors, the body horror are - and I truly must emphasize this - disgusting. So much of this film is about disgust toward the self, and that’s played out to extremes. Do not eat before watching this film, and if you have a weak stomach, perhaps skip it altogether - though I’d encourage you to try and stick it out, because the messaging and the experience of this film can be equal parts horrifying and enlightening.

You really feel for Elizabeth, because I suspect that most women (and some men) experience this at some point in life. One day, you don’t get the same looks that you used to, the kind attention and smiles that once came so easily. You are hit with the realization that growing old with grace isn’t as easy as people make it out to be. There’s temptation to cling to your youth as a slowly diminishing commodity, to inject too many fillers, because people just start to treat you badly, or even worse, act like you no longer exist.

It’s not subtle at all, it’s audacious and unapologetically in your face. I’ve never seen something done with such boldness. There were clearly deliberate (and again, unsubtle) choices - naming the sleazy and sexist TV producer “Harvey.” Casting the lead as Demi Moore, a woman who famously had her husband snatched away from her by a younger woman and has had her own journey with aging as an actress.

More subtle nods are included as well - allusions to “A Picture of Dorian Gray.” Making Elizabeth an exercise guru, which feels like a nod to Jane Fonda - Jane filmed an entire Netflix series about navigating life as a woman who was once successful in the beauty industry but is now elderly and overlooked.

“The Substance” is a triumphant sophomore film from Coralie Fargeat - it won best screenplay at Cannes, and I suspect it will become a modern classic. My only criticism might be that the last 15 minutes were gratuitous and unnecessary (we got the point by then), but that is just my view.

Love it or hate it, you will never forget “The Substance.” It has caused me to reflect on my relationship with my past, present and future self - and I know for a fact it is an experience that will stay with me for the rest of my life.