The Substance

The layered body horror film delivers Demi Moore's best performance

Hollywood has been commenting on how women are discarded as they age as far back as All About Eve (1950). The issue has been discussed for over 70 years, yet it remains a common practice in both Hollywood and society at large. The latest film to tackle this unfair standard is the body-horror movie The Substance (2024).

The Substance follows middle-aged fitness star Elizabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) after her long-running show is canceled by misogynistic TV executive Harvey (Dennis Quaid). Desperate to reclaim her former status, Elizabeth enrolls in a mysterious drug program that grotesquely births a younger version of herself (Margaret Qualley) from her own body. However, the treatment comes with a strict rule—she can only live in each version for seven days at a time. Will Elizabeth resist the temptation of youth and beauty?

The film marks Coralie Fargeat’s sophomore effort after the satisfyingly violent Revenge (2017). This time, the French director is given complete creative control, meticulously crafting The Substance with an obsessive attention to detail—from the color of a chair to the precise framing of a shot and the subtle intricacies of the sound design. The film’s visual precision and deliberate pacing evoke comparisons to Stanley Kubrick’s work.

The Substance is an unmistakable critique of how society values youth and beauty in women. Fargeat playfully exaggerates the male gaze through her camera, lingering on butts and breasts for excessive amounts of time, making the viewer complicit in the objectification. As the film progresses, the symbolism and framing become more overt: young Elizabeth, nicknamed “Sue,” is increasingly sexualized, while older Elizabeth begins to resemble a fairy tale witch, illustrating the stark contrast in how women are perceived at different ages.

The film leans heavily into its body-horror elements, delivering a level of gore that could even make David Cronenberg flinch. This works effectively in the first two acts, viscerally portraying the pain and violence society forces older women to endure in their pursuit of youth. However, the third act escalates the bloodshed and makeup effects to an extreme, turning into an unhinged fable with a finale so bizarre it puts Ari Aster’s Beau Is Afraid (2023) to shame. Unfortunately, the excessive theatrics in the final act overshadow The Substance’s core message in favor of shock value.

Despite this, the film’s conclusion does not diminish Moore’s career-best performance. She shines in moments of quiet introspection, her face betraying layers of doubt, self-loathing, and sorrow. One particularly poignant sequence shows her nervously preparing for a date, changing outfits countless times, only to end up staying home, sitting alone by her bed. This heartbreaking moment conveys The Substance’s themes more powerfully than any of the blood-soaked chaos in the finale. Qualley also delivers a strong performance, though her role serves more as a foil to the deeper internal struggles of Moore’s character. Meanwhile, Quaid is a scene-stealer, making his repugnant character so vile that one can almost smell the cheap cologne radiating from him.

Ultimately, The Substance is a unique blend of Cronenbergian body horror, Kubrickian precision, and echoes of The Picture of Dorian Gray, all in service of a critique on society’s treatment of aging women. Demi Moore delivers a powerhouse performance, and while the first two acts masterfully balance fantasy and character-driven storytelling, the third act tips too far into excess. This choice may delight horror fans but ultimately dilutes the film’s gut-punching message.

7.2/10