What to Watch Verdict

Writer/director Coralie Fargeat's breakout movie is a gut-twisting, darkly comic take down of female beauty standards and ageism with a wonderfully unhinged Demi Moore performance.

Pros

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Coraline Fargeat’s breakthrough movie is wonderfully scripted and directed
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Demi Moore gives a career-best performance
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Incredible make-up and sound design work

Cons

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Goes a little long

Before anyone sees The Substance, they need to know what they are getting themselves into. This is a body horror movie that delivers on the extremes of the genre. It features imagery and a heightened tone all in an effort to make your stomach churn. But if that is something that appeals to you, or even if you are open to it, then The Substance can be one the craziest and most memorable movies of 2024.

I was definitely more in the "open to it" category, so while there were moments where I may have looked away to save my lunch, it only emphasizes the brilliant work by writer/director Coarline Fargeat, who has made her breakout movie with The Substance. This is a movie that seems destined to be among the best of the body horror genre with David Cronenberg and others. Just as good is Demi Moore, who delivers a highlight performances of her career as she lets loose and goes completely unhinged to depict her character's descent.

The Substance sees Moore play a famous actress, Elisabeth Sparkle, who now that she is turning 50 is being phased out of her daytime exercise show. With few other options for her career at the moment, she decides to take a mysterious drug known as "the substance." This creates a younger, "better" version of Elisabeth named Sue, portrayed by Margaret Qualley. The trick with the substance is that Sue gets seven days while Elisabeth's body is unconscious, then Elisabeth gets seven days. The balance must be respected for the effects to work properly. However, as Sue's star rises, she begins demanding more and more time, which has disastrous effects on them both.

Born in France, this is Fargeat's second feature directing effort following 2017's Revenge (though she also notably directed an episode of Netflix's The Sandman), and it should absolutely be the one that puts her on the map of movie lovers and Hollywood. The Substance is incredible; it is confident in what it is and trying to do, not conceding a thing. All of which comes from Fargeat, who wrote and directed the movie.

Fargeat uses the body horror genre to torch the practice of putting so much value on women's beauty, while also effectively commenting on how ageism often sees those of a certain age, especially women, cast aside for those that are younger. This is portrayed in purposefully over-the-top fashion by Dennis Quaid's network executive Harvey, but then wonderfully portrayed by Moore, as Elisabeth has multiple moments of heartbreaking self doubt, especially as she is unable to stop comparing herself to Sue.

Dennis Quaid in The Substance (Image credit: Mubi)

While the makeup work of the movie is superb (and should absolutely be in contention for awards later this year), I want to specifically call out the use of sound to help churn the audiences' stomachs. It's an ASMR nightmare as people's disgusting eating habits (along with how unappetizing the movie makes food look) and the painful creeks and cracks of the body are put on blast. It's disgusting, but a brilliant use of sound design.

All of this builds to a final act that ratchets the crazy up to 11, and I was fully on board. It might ultimately go too long though. The Substance suffers from a bit of a Return of the King effect, where it feels like there are multiple endings (though at two hours and 20 minutes it’s still an hour shorter than the Best Picture winner). But just as with Return of the King, while you may be wondering how it keeps going, figuring the ride has to be over, the movie still manages to make each of these moments entertain; maybe they could've been trimmed just a bit.

In a recent review for Zoe Kravitz's Blink Twice I said that it was a "love it or hate it movie," where I found myself in the latter camp. The Substance is likely going to be that for others, especially depending on their ability to handle body horror tropes. But for me, this is the emergence of an exciting new voice that pairs subject and star perfectly and is one of the most insane and entertaining viewing experiences I had all year.

The Substance releases exclusively in movie theaters on September 20.

Michael Balderston is a DC-based entertainment and assistant managing editor for What to Watch, who has previously written about the TV and movies with TV Technology, Awards Circuit and regional publications. Spending most of his time watching new movies at the theater or classics on TCM, some of Michael's favorite movies include Casablanca, Moulin Rouge!, Silence of the Lambs, Children of Men, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Star Wars. On the TV side he enjoys Only Murders in the Building, Yellowstone, The Boys, Game of Thrones and is always up for a Seinfeld rerun. Follow on Letterboxd.