Possibly one of the finest ‘body horror’ films of the post-2000s era, Fargeat’s sophomore film takes on sexism and ageism in the entertainment industry with a middle finger so pointed that the violence and gore become saliently and nihilistically rewarding. 

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One of the buzziest titles to come out of Cannes 2024, and winner of Best Screenplay, The Substance could have been named ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and it would still be apt.  From the director of 2017’s Revenge, The Substance sees Coraline Fargeat deliver possibly one of the finest ‘body horror’ films of the post-2000s era. 

Referencing Stanley Kubrick to David Lynch, and of course, David Cronenberg, the film stars a stunning Demi Moore as Elizabeth, a celebrity whose star is slowly fading as she ages. 

When Harvey (surely an allusion to the despicable Weinstein?), a powerful producer played by a toxic masculinity-oozing Dennis Quaid (whose performance is a caricature in itself) curtly rejects her continuing in a long-running show in favour of a younger and sexier woman, she tries a new drug from the black market. 

The titular drug allows one to generate a younger, more appealing version of oneself genetically. And so, we have Sue (Margaret Qualley, that girl who tried to seduce Brad Pitt in Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), who auditions and gets the role that would replace Elizabeth. 

“Renewable is inevitable.”

Fargeat takes on sexism and ageism in the entertainment industry with a middle finger so sharply pointed that the film’s satirical qualities become very apparent—and very corporeal—when the violence and gore start to set in. 

Coupled with her maximalist style (through editing and sound design) that makes every intense moment much more heightened than usual, The Substance becomes a tour de force in high-impact visceral filmmaking that doesn’t care if you are the wrong audience (well… even better!) for it. 

The closest experience I would describe is like watching a Gaspar Noe film.  And like Noe, Fargeat is also an intelligent filmmaker inasmuch as they both use shock tactics to make salient points about the morbid and disgusting world we live in. 

While The Substance does somewhat hit the thematic hammer on the nail perhaps one time too many, the ‘joy’—and what joy it is for fans of transgressive movies—of seeing Elizabeth and Sue trying to sabotage each other makes it all the more nihilistically rewarding, taking the concept of self-destruction to a whole new literal (and hence paradoxical) level of abstraction.

Grade: A-

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