I look around my own life, particularly at the women I know and see an increasing obsession with the fountain of youth. Almost every girl I know has had some sort of augmentation and botox injections are the norm to the point where people aren't even embarrassed to say that they have had it done and continue to do it regularly.
In The Substance we see an aging star that is seriously struggling with how the industry that she has been involved in for many years that earned her a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is starting to turn on her because she is no longer considered beautiful enough to be an attraction. This role is wonderfully played by Demi Moore who is a perfect candidate for such a role because something similar to this actually has happened and is still happening to her.
After breaking down a bit realizing that her career is over, she is offered a way out, a way to become young again, a way to be a better, younger, more beautiful version of herself, but at a cost.
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As usual, I am going to be intentionally vague in what it is that I tell you here because I don't want to spoil this *almost perfect" dread-filled film. If you want to know more, I really think you should see this film because as one critic stated this is the "perfect movie to address impossible beauty standards."
Demi Moore plays the role of Elizabeth Sparkle, who is an older star of a fitness show that just doesn't have the sex appeal that it once did. She ends up finding out that she is being let go by overhearing a conversation in the restroom and is later fired by scumbag producer "Harvey" who is wonderfully played by Dennis Quaid. I mean seriously, this guy either is a creepy producer or has been exposed to enough of the Weinstein types to know exactly how to play this role.
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He puts forth a perfect performance of a tv executive who cares nothing about the feelings of others and will walk all over anyone to get what he wants. Despite the fact that Elizabeth Sparkle has been a star with him for what is shown as ages, he quickly dismisses her and tosses her out. It is at this time that Elizabeth is approached by someone that can give her a way to be young and beautiful again but in order for this to work the program has to be strictly adhered to by both young and old versions of Elizabeth.
When we are introduced to the young version of Elizabeth, she is absolutely stunning in actress Margaret Qualley who decides to name herself "Sue." Things go amazingly at first but as you might expect things start to get out of control rather rapidly. The "Sue" character is so anatomically perfect that they actually had to use prosthetics on the already stunning Qualley in order to get it just perfect.
The things that go wrong are frustrating to the viewer as we find ourselves screaming at the screen about how "you're going to screw it all up!" and of course they do. But in the meantime we are shown a side of Demi Moore's acting chops that I never thought she had in her. I always considered Demi a pretty face and not much more but man oh man does shoe prove me and everyone else wrong with this absolutely perfect performance.
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Despite the fact that Sparkle is extremely good looking for her age and has the much younger version of herself to rescue her, she experiences horrible after-effects of being thrust back into her old body once every 7 days. Despite being wealthy and famous, being introduced to a more perfect version of herself makes her dread being in her own skin even more than she was before. While this is complete fiction, I think it is understandable how most people would likely end up feeling the same way, even though we try to convince ourselves otherwise.
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Despite being given very specific instruction on how this system has to operate in order to work the duo keeps screwing things up more and more and well, you'll see... you'll see.
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The actors are all perfect, the cinematography is stupendous, the music is haunting, the direction is spot on. The only thing I can be a bit critical about in this movie is the really outlandish ending that perhaps could have been a bit better but hell, this film is so damn near perfect and a wonderful reflection of modern life that I think this is easily forgivable as you will be thinking and talking about this movie long after you have finished watching it.
If you are like me you will be telling yourself as this goes on that "I would have done that differently... but would you? Would you be able to resist the temptation? Honestly?
Should I watch it?
This is one of the best films I have seen in 2024 and while I need to ruminate a bit more before I truly make this call, it might end up in my top-20 films of all time. You do need to understand that I am a huge fan of dread-inducing tense films that keep you glued to the screen and I highly recommend you either see this at theaters or watch it in an environment where you will have no distractions so you can fully appreciate the nuances that are hidden in tiny little camera tricks and interesting decisions in direction.
I'm considering watching this again and I rarely watch films multiple times but this one, this one is something special. I suppose the closest relation I can come to this film would be Requiem for a Dream which if you have seen it you know how terrifyingly real that movie was. This is one of the highest recommendations I have given in a while. Welcome back Demi!
This film can currently only be legally seen in cinemas but it will have a later release on little-known streaming service Mubi although a release date has not yet been set