“This is simply a better version of yourself.”
The Substance
Writer/director Coralie Fargeat delivers a bold vision with her second feature, an allegory of societal views on aging and the fetishisation of youth, explored through the medium of uncompromising body horror. Demi Moore’s performance as an aging star discarded by Hollywood has been widely regarded as a career best, and she fully sells Elisabeth’s extreme decision to use a secretive serum that creates a new youthful body but requires her to alternate between the two. There is significant nudity from both Moore and Margaret Qualley (as the younger self) and it is the sequences of them scrutinising their own and each other’s appearances that communicate the most — there is a tenderness tinged with jealousy toward Elisabeth’s younger self and a carelessness toward her older self. These intimate sequences at home are contrasted by more sexualised and objectifying camerawork in her professional life. The Substance certainly has more to say than Old, and Fargeat’s extreme visuals capitalise on ideas that The Neon Demon failed to execute. The film makes excellent use of architecture to unsettle the audience, with diabolically long corridors or a piercingly white sterile bathroom. Much of the film unfolds within Elisabeth’s isolated Hollywood mansion in the hills yet she is haunted by the impossibly high billboard staring through her living window, representing the inescapable images of youth thrust daily in our faces. The Substance does not preach any message beyond “the balance must be respected” and it is certainly not anti-youth, recognising that the young find themselves trapped in work so that the old can relax. The film cannot be accused of subtlety — Dennis Quaid’s lascivious Hollywood producer is presented as an avatar of grotesque consumption — but viewers will either love or hate the crass excess of its closing 20 minutes. I would have found The Substance more effective without this, but there is no doubt that Fargeat has delivered a vivid and memorable experience.
8/10
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