This is the second of 10 reviews as I attempt to watch all 2024 movies nominated for the “Best Picture” Academy Award.
While watching this movie, I was reminded of “Her” from 2013. Like “The Substance,” “Her” snuck into the Oscar nominations as a low-budget, critical darling with some decent star power and an overt moral message — perhaps even warning — about what can happen in the not-so-distant future we when succumb to our desires for the perfect mate (Her) or the perfect self (Substance).
That’s where the similarities end. While the 2013 sci-fi comedy had hints of hope and ultimately a “happily ever after” ending, “The Substance” is a straight horror film. Demi Moore plays Elizabeth Sparkle, a fading and aging star who loses her role on a popular workout show for simply getting older. An over-the-top Dennis Quaid, playing the ratings-hungry producer, is seeking her replacement, prioritizing looks over everything.
Enter the substance. Through a strange series of events that makes little logical sense, Elizabeth ends up being solicited to try this new treatment that promises a “younger, beautiful and perfect” self. She gives in, and after going through an unnecessarily strange process to get the substance, finally injects it into herself. Within minutes, rather than transforming her body, the substance produces another lifeform out of her (think scenes from Alien). After a truly grotesque process, the substance produces Sue, played by Margaret Qualley, a “younger, beautiful and perfect” version of Elizabeth.
Sue auditions for the workout show role her source body just lost, instantly gets hired and becomes a sensation. However, to continue to live as Sue, she must keep Elizabeth’s body alive through a substance-provided food pack, and every weekend assume the body of Elizabeth. But using the substance requires a rigorous schedule, one that a hard-partying Sue can’t keep up with, and that causes some alien-like body issues. Sue and Elizabeth — who are supposed to be one — end up resenting each other and sabotaging each other, causing more and more problems with their body.
This movie’s message of body positivity is shoved down the viewer’s throat (or taken out of Sue’s throat in one particular scene). It’s using shock tactics to sell the message — like showing pictures of aborted fetuses to promote a “pro-life” message. When it comes to visual effects, this is one of the goriest movies I’ve ever seen. In the body transformations, nothing is left to interpretation. The climactic fight scene between a heavily defigured Elizabeth and Sue makes Tarantino movies seem tame. And the ending violence makes Tony Soprano look like a gentleman.
“The Substance” is too much. Released earlier in the year, this movie was off the Oscar radar until a late push came for the film and Moore, who won her first major acting award when she took home a Golden Globe for her role as Elizabeth. Recognition for Moore was long overdue, and her performance in the movie was solid, I think. It’s hard to focus on the actors when the substance of the film is drowned out with gore and preachiness.
Joe’s Judgement: 4/10
Joe Dennis 