Recently, The Substance, a horror and science fiction film directed by Coralie Fargeat, was released in theaters on September 18th. Even though the film came out less than a month ago, The Substance has recieved loads of praise from critics and viewers alike. As of October, the film has a 91% Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatos, with a 71% audience score.
If you haven’t seen The Substance, you might be wondering why this film has revieved so much acclaim, even earning the title of Best Screenplay from the Cannes Film Festival in May. As someone who immedaitely loved the movie after watching it in theaters last week, I can say it’s because Fargeat does an amazing job of taking today’s current beauty standards and throwing it back in the faces corperations in a thrilling way.
The story follows Elizabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore), a popular fitness instructor who has her own television series with a network. On the day of her 50th birthday, the head director of her show fires her because she isn’t as young and desireable (in societies opinion) as she used to be when she first started working. Of course, Elizabeth is devistated, and ends up getting into a car crash after a state of delirium from the news. One of the hospital employees where she is taken to introduces her to “The Substance”, a black market drug that ends up taking her down a deep hole into her own self love and reflection.
The Substance claims to make a better and younger version of it’s user, which is exactly what it does, but not without it’s consequences. It’s the repeated theme in the movie that makes The Substance so special: Remember, you are one. After Elizabeth begins using the drug, she creates a newer version of herself, who takes on the persona of Sue. However, Elizabeth can only live in Sue’s body for seven days before she has to switch back again for a week.
It seems like a small price to pay for such a “great” ability, but as the movie progresses, we see Elizabeth and Sue abuse that power. Elizabeth and Sue are the same person—grown from the same DNA— and need each other to stay balanced. Sue needs Elizabeth’s body to stablize her current form, and without Elizabeth, she is nothing. Unforutunately, Elizabeth is so enamored with her new persona that she begins to simmer in her own self hatred.
As the plot progresses, we see Elizabeth lose her grip on reality. Elizabeth struggles between keeping the balance of new and old. She begins to hate her relfection and body, these ideas represented through her actions. Hate gets to the point of no return towards the end, but I’ll spare those details for spoilers sake.
I think this movie did a great job of refecting today’s beauty standards and industries. When it comes to the film industry in specific, its a known fact that female celebrites and actors begin losing roles as they age, while male celebrities have no problem booking roles due to their age. Demi Moore, the staring lead in this movie, comments about toxic standards during her career as a female: “And I did have experiences of being told to lose weight. And all of those, while they may have been embarrassing and humiliating, it’s what I did to myself because of that.”
Telling women that they lose their value based on age, beauty, or weight is a ridiculous notion, and films like The Substance are doing an amazing job of showing just how important self-acceptance is.
Sources:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/demi-moore-on-the-substance-and-resisting-a-toxic-beauty-culture/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17526714
https://www.thecut.com/article/review-the-substance-movie-gets-aging-wrong.html
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fscreenrant.com%2Fthe-substance-sue-elisabeth-look-different-why%2F&psig=AOvVaw2lgiMfI9FWUKobGDQxKZRP&ust=1729059205254000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=2ahUKEwjV3IjP3Y-JAxVhJzQIHWvjCugQjhx6BAgAEBg
