Review: The Substance
Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley star in this satirical and messy body-horror mash-up, but does it go too far? Or not far enough?
Meet Elisabeth Sparkle (played by Demi Moore), once the pinnacle of Hollywood beauty. She even earned her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her acting stardom and sexy, seductive fitness videos. But that was many years ago. These days, things aren’t quite so glamorous. The lecherous CEO of the company, Harvey (played by Dennis Quaid), is nudging her to step aside, hinting that it’s time for younger (read: sexier) talent to take over. And it’s starting to get to her. Is she still beautiful? Is she still “hot”? And if not, what’s left of her worth?
After a car accident, Elisabeth is contacted by a mysterious organization that promises to help her. The deal is simple: follow their instructions, inject The Substance, and every other week, live as a younger, drop-dead gorgeous version of herself. Intrigued, she agrees, and in one grotesque transformation, her back splits open, revealing her new, flawless self. She names this version of herself “Sue” (played by Margaret Qualley).
What follows is a bizarre double life, with Elisabeth as her older self and Sue as the perfect younger counterpart. But the cracks begin to show fast. Elisabeth starts to resent Sue’s effortless success and youthful energy as Sue increasingly siphons more and more life away from her. What starts as an odd symbiosis spirals into a bitter inner conflict between two sides of the same person — one that can only end in tears, blood, gore, and a whole lot of body horror.
The message in The Substance is about as subtle as a brick to the face. Then again, so is the beauty industry, with its relentless push of unattainable standards plastered across every screen and billboard. And while the film is well-acted and has its tense and creepy moments, it’s just far too blatant and on the nose for me to fully appreciate.
Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley deliver excellent performances. The first half of the film works well, maintaining a sense of mystery and creeping dread. But as the story progresses, it leans way too hard into being “in your face” — literally — with overly intense close-ups, unflattering camera angles, and a sideshow of characters that feel more like demented and cartoonish caricatures than anything close to existing in real life.
The Substance is a satirical body-horror mash-up of Cinderella, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. And while I get what it’s trying to do with its satire, it’s all too blatant and heavy-handed for my taste. The satire falls flat, though not as disastrously as Triangle of Sadness (which, frankly, I couldn’t stand for this reason). To me, satire works best when it doesn’t have to scream “SATIRE!!!” in your face all the time.
The film has plenty of gross-out body horror moments, with practical effects involving buckets of rubber and latex. While the first half feels suitably eerie, I was never genuinely scared. The yuck-factor is another matter, but the yuckiest scene in the whole film had more to do with Demi Moore’s cooking than anything else. By the end — and I won’t spoil anything — it devolves into its own concept and message, with very little actual story left to tell.
As a voter in the Golden Globes, I received The Substance as one of the films entered for consideration. But the real headscratcher for me is that it was sent in to be considered for the category Best Comedy or Musical. It has no humor to speak of, and if there were any musical numbers, I must have missed them.