“Substance”
A body horror film that raises sharp questions.
Finally, I watched "Substance." I had had high expectations, but the film exceeded them. So here I am, writing this while still feeling the impact of what I have just seen!
In a nutshell—here’s the plot to give you some context.
The main character, Elizabeth (Demi Moore), a former actress and now a star of a fitness show, is a stunning woman with an incredible figure, truly a knockout for someone in her 50s (or 60s?). She discovers that she’s about to be replaced.
She’s shocked because the last thing she’s ready to do is accept that her time has passed. Suddenly, an opportunity arises for her to try a substance called "Substance," which is supposed to turn her back into a younger version of herself (Margaret Qualley). She decides to go for it.
What follows is a portrayal of how far a woman is willing to go to regain her lost beauty and recognition. We witness a chronicle of her descent into the abyss of progressing body dysmorphia—shot close-up and in detail.
I have a lot of questions about this: regarding society, the beauty industry, and—mostly—about Eliza herself.
In a nutshell—here’s the plot to give you some context.
The main character, Elizabeth (Demi Moore), a former actress and now a star of a fitness show, is a stunning woman with an incredible figure, truly a knockout for someone in her 50s (or 60s?). She discovers that she’s about to be replaced.
She’s shocked because the last thing she’s ready to do is accept that her time has passed. Suddenly, an opportunity arises for her to try a substance called "Substance," which is supposed to turn her back into a younger version of herself (Margaret Qualley). She decides to go for it.
What follows is a portrayal of how far a woman is willing to go to regain her lost beauty and recognition. We witness a chronicle of her descent into the abyss of progressing body dysmorphia—shot close-up and in detail.
I have a lot of questions about this: regarding society, the beauty industry, and—mostly—about Eliza herself.
Isn't it time to shift the focus from appearance to the very essence?
I'm hesitant to ask, but did she really plan to be shaking her butt in a swimsuit until she’s 90?
Demi Moore is 61 now. I assume her character is around the same age. In my opinion, it’s high time to think about self-actualization beyond this legs-in-the-air show!
Betting on this profession seems like an unjustifiable risk to me. Why choose a field where you’re constantly under someone else’s scrutiny? A slight deviation from the standard or just someone’s subjective opinion can kick you out of the game in an instant.
Haven't the years (and there have been quite a few) brought any thoughts about doing something more intellectual or creative? For example, sharing with the audience how she got to this point in life (in a positive sense)? How at 50+ she has a physical appearance (especially her figure) that a 20-year-old would envy?
Honestly, I'm not quite sure why Elizabeth (Demi Moore's character) seems to earn less admiration than Sue (Margaret Qualley's character). To me, the latter is just your average 20-something girl, slightly more appealing than the statistical norm. I mean, she caught the eye of a couple of TV guys… but that’s a whole different discussion.
Demi Moore is 61 now. I assume her character is around the same age. In my opinion, it’s high time to think about self-actualization beyond this legs-in-the-air show!
Betting on this profession seems like an unjustifiable risk to me. Why choose a field where you’re constantly under someone else’s scrutiny? A slight deviation from the standard or just someone’s subjective opinion can kick you out of the game in an instant.
Haven't the years (and there have been quite a few) brought any thoughts about doing something more intellectual or creative? For example, sharing with the audience how she got to this point in life (in a positive sense)? How at 50+ she has a physical appearance (especially her figure) that a 20-year-old would envy?
Honestly, I'm not quite sure why Elizabeth (Demi Moore's character) seems to earn less admiration than Sue (Margaret Qualley's character). To me, the latter is just your average 20-something girl, slightly more appealing than the statistical norm. I mean, she caught the eye of a couple of TV guys… but that’s a whole different discussion.
So, who are the judges here?
I mean, who evaluates women's worth? Men, for sure! Yeah, those very beings (as depicted in the film) appear disgusting and vulgar. They crowd the frame with close-ups, shoving their fat fingers in the lens. They ooze lust and excess, chewing and smacking their greasy lips while spewing nothing but crudeness and lewd remarks.
It's going to be tough for men to watch this film! The male characters aren't exactly flattering! But still, when it comes to choosing a woman or dismissing her, men make up the overwhelming majority. And the criteria for their choices are downright skewed.
It's going to be tough for men to watch this film! The male characters aren't exactly flattering! But still, when it comes to choosing a woman or dismissing her, men make up the overwhelming majority. And the criteria for their choices are downright skewed.
Something's broken in the visual standards of society. But no one wants to acknowledge it
Society is aging. The youth no longer make up a commercially significant majority.
Logically, mainstream culture should represent all ages and lifestyles. Yet for some reason, the media continues to broadcast the old ideal: a conventionally youthful appearance. This creates a situation where the majority is, by definition, deemed "not up to standard" and categorized as "second-rate." This terrifies both the elderly (who've already been pushed out) and the young (whose time is coming soon). All this due to some arbitrary visual standards that someone made up! Everything is tied to beauty: careers (which the film ruthlessly illustrates), men’s interests, and so much more. How can one not feel a creeping anxiety and uncontrollable fears? The beauty industry thrives on this. For every such concern, there’s a plethora of solutions: pay up and get rejuvenated! It seems like a great opportunity: take a pill, and suddenly, you’re the best version of yourself! But, as it turns out, there are some catches… In both film and real life, everything comes at a price. This price can be compared to one’s very life. "Substance" serves as a sharp satire on the modern beauty industry. Billions in profits, feeding off fears, unrealistic expectations...
Logically, mainstream culture should represent all ages and lifestyles. Yet for some reason, the media continues to broadcast the old ideal: a conventionally youthful appearance. This creates a situation where the majority is, by definition, deemed "not up to standard" and categorized as "second-rate." This terrifies both the elderly (who've already been pushed out) and the young (whose time is coming soon). All this due to some arbitrary visual standards that someone made up! Everything is tied to beauty: careers (which the film ruthlessly illustrates), men’s interests, and so much more. How can one not feel a creeping anxiety and uncontrollable fears? The beauty industry thrives on this. For every such concern, there’s a plethora of solutions: pay up and get rejuvenated! It seems like a great opportunity: take a pill, and suddenly, you’re the best version of yourself! But, as it turns out, there are some catches… In both film and real life, everything comes at a price. This price can be compared to one’s very life. "Substance" serves as a sharp satire on the modern beauty industry. Billions in profits, feeding off fears, unrealistic expectations...
What happens when we shift the meaning of our lives onto our kids?
So, Elizabeth takes her first dose, and a new, younger version of her literally hatches out.
Did I hear that right? Did someone just say "daughter"?
You're right—it’s hard to shake the association: when one being emerges from another, we’re clearly talking about a mother and daughter. In the "Substance" scenario, the mother is nothing more than a donor, a battery for the new body. The daughter uses her, constantly trying to snatch more time and space from her. This gradually drains and ages her.
When we live for our children, replacing our own meanings with theirs, they stop seeing us as important because we cease to be significant to ourselves. They keep taking more and more pieces from us, and at some point, we, along with our lives—just like Elizabeth—turn into nothing. All that’s left is to wait for their success, to load them with our expectations. In the end, it’s the ruins of not just one life, but two!
It’s clear that Sue, who’s now hatched, isn’t planning to invest in herself, think for herself, or build her own life. Why bother when she can just follow the well-trodden path and fully exploit all the achievements of her older alter ego? She’s landing a gig on the same show and, by all appearances, is planning to kick up her heels until she starts seeing her own wrinkles.
This is only making the hypothetical "mother" more and more annoyed.
Did I hear that right? Did someone just say "daughter"?
You're right—it’s hard to shake the association: when one being emerges from another, we’re clearly talking about a mother and daughter. In the "Substance" scenario, the mother is nothing more than a donor, a battery for the new body. The daughter uses her, constantly trying to snatch more time and space from her. This gradually drains and ages her.
When we live for our children, replacing our own meanings with theirs, they stop seeing us as important because we cease to be significant to ourselves. They keep taking more and more pieces from us, and at some point, we, along with our lives—just like Elizabeth—turn into nothing. All that’s left is to wait for their success, to load them with our expectations. In the end, it’s the ruins of not just one life, but two!
It’s clear that Sue, who’s now hatched, isn’t planning to invest in herself, think for herself, or build her own life. Why bother when she can just follow the well-trodden path and fully exploit all the achievements of her older alter ego? She’s landing a gig on the same show and, by all appearances, is planning to kick up her heels until she starts seeing her own wrinkles.
This is only making the hypothetical "mother" more and more annoyed.
The main rival is hiding inside
At some point, it becomes obvious: Elizabeth is seething with envy towards Sue. What else is there to do when you’re lacking your own purpose and life?
Then suddenly, a thought struck me: that same feeling could wash over any of us when looking at our photo from 30 years ago! Our eyes notice the gap, and immediately the comparison, regret, and... envy come rushing in! It seems that if a standard is set, our ideal version might be lurking in any old snapshot. It doesn’t even have to be an old one, just one that turned out well, even if it was taken recently. I remember a friend talking about some event from that beautiful time when she was 20 kg lighter. How much sadness and self-hatred I heard in her voice back then!
It turns out that the biggest monster and the fiercest enemy we face is ourselves. And (though it's not original, it’s still crucial) self-hatred doesn’t lead to good!
If you're a perfectionist, it gets even tougher. The world sets the rules, you multiply them by ten and get to work. You do everything you can, but you have no power over time, and the years catch up... Not meeting your own expectations is even more painful than failing to meet others'. Because you can’t escape your own critical gaze, even in the emptiest apartment. And a cocktail of imposed ideals combined with personal ambitions is an explosively dangerous mix!
The climax of the film is the scene where Elizabeth is getting ready for a date. She’s going to meet a man who sees her as a goddess. But things can’t quite go right: she keeps going back to the mirror. She looks at herself from the outside: her low-cut dress seems too revealing, her crimson lips too vulgar... The gray hair, wrinkles, dark circles under her eyes, the feeling of being aged and unattractive is all she can see. Even though, in the context of the film, she is still beautiful at that moment.
Then suddenly, a thought struck me: that same feeling could wash over any of us when looking at our photo from 30 years ago! Our eyes notice the gap, and immediately the comparison, regret, and... envy come rushing in! It seems that if a standard is set, our ideal version might be lurking in any old snapshot. It doesn’t even have to be an old one, just one that turned out well, even if it was taken recently. I remember a friend talking about some event from that beautiful time when she was 20 kg lighter. How much sadness and self-hatred I heard in her voice back then!
It turns out that the biggest monster and the fiercest enemy we face is ourselves. And (though it's not original, it’s still crucial) self-hatred doesn’t lead to good!
If you're a perfectionist, it gets even tougher. The world sets the rules, you multiply them by ten and get to work. You do everything you can, but you have no power over time, and the years catch up... Not meeting your own expectations is even more painful than failing to meet others'. Because you can’t escape your own critical gaze, even in the emptiest apartment. And a cocktail of imposed ideals combined with personal ambitions is an explosively dangerous mix!
The climax of the film is the scene where Elizabeth is getting ready for a date. She’s going to meet a man who sees her as a goddess. But things can’t quite go right: she keeps going back to the mirror. She looks at herself from the outside: her low-cut dress seems too revealing, her crimson lips too vulgar... The gray hair, wrinkles, dark circles under her eyes, the feeling of being aged and unattractive is all she can see. Even though, in the context of the film, she is still beautiful at that moment.
When the assessment skews outward, the boundary between beauty and ugliness, success and failure becomes highly subjective
Here’s Elizabeth flaunting her shapely thighs in the opening scenes of the movie, and we genuinely admire her—then after a few words from the producer, she’s suddenly an unfit old woman, booted from the show.
Everyone’s raving about Sue’s perky figure—but half an hour into the film, the magic fades, just like a phrase that’s been repeated a hundred times loses its impact.
We’re shown an apartment—sterile and cold, wonderfully designed. But then it shifts from stunning to repulsive, tainted by leftover food, making it inappropriately alive.
So, it seems the line separating beauty from ugliness isn’t fact and essence, but rather perspective and angle. If you ask me, that’s an unreliable distinction! Maybe it’s time to come up with some new ones?
Everyone’s raving about Sue’s perky figure—but half an hour into the film, the magic fades, just like a phrase that’s been repeated a hundred times loses its impact.
We’re shown an apartment—sterile and cold, wonderfully designed. But then it shifts from stunning to repulsive, tainted by leftover food, making it inappropriately alive.
So, it seems the line separating beauty from ugliness isn’t fact and essence, but rather perspective and angle. If you ask me, that’s an unreliable distinction! Maybe it’s time to come up with some new ones?
The artistic elements of the film
They are simply outstanding!
There's a wealth of metaphors and allusions. Just think about the rabbit hole that the heroine dives into for her next dose of the Substance!
The wide-angle shots and exaggerated zooms create a sensation where every detail seems to expand beyond the limitations of perception. Wandering through narrow labyrinthine corridors… it all contributes to a surreal feeling. In this unreality, it’s easy to get lost, just like in your own mind, where bizarre thoughts about your own insignificance intertwine, and even the tiniest wrinkle grows to threatening proportions.
The camera's perspective on the protagonist is arguably the key artistic technique. In an interview with Coralie Fargeat, the film's director, for the magazine "Snob," she said:
There's a wealth of metaphors and allusions. Just think about the rabbit hole that the heroine dives into for her next dose of the Substance!
The wide-angle shots and exaggerated zooms create a sensation where every detail seems to expand beyond the limitations of perception. Wandering through narrow labyrinthine corridors… it all contributes to a surreal feeling. In this unreality, it’s easy to get lost, just like in your own mind, where bizarre thoughts about your own insignificance intertwine, and even the tiniest wrinkle grows to threatening proportions.
The camera's perspective on the protagonist is arguably the key artistic technique. In an interview with Coralie Fargeat, the film's director, for the magazine "Snob," she said:
“
"The film presents two ways of representing the female body: the external, where the heroines are filmed during a morning talk show and are in the public eye, and the internal, where they are alone with themselves in the bathroom, free from the gaze of others. I depict how the 'external' gaze influences how you see yourself. On TV, we see bodies transformed by the gaze of others, objectified, sexualized, and exceptionally beautiful. And when I was scripting the actions, I wanted them to follow instincts rather than the laws of logic”.
The genre is social horror combined with body horror—each amplifying the other. And it’s all done in a very aesthetic way!
The style is grotesque and absurd.
The aesthetics are brightly chemical to the point of repulsion, featuring pronounced elements of pop art, pin-up, and camp. And then there's that unforgettable yellow coat…
The style is grotesque and absurd.
The aesthetics are brightly chemical to the point of repulsion, featuring pronounced elements of pop art, pin-up, and camp. And then there's that unforgettable yellow coat…
For me, "Substance" is the most powerful and uncompromising anti-ageism film I've ever seen. It dissects the consumerist attitude towards humans as mere shells. It shows how the obsession with improving everyone and everything leads to a complete loss of self.
The main character (essentially a composite of a mature woman) is only willing to live as her "best version." She doesn’t know how to deal with her "non-ideal self." Today it’s about appearance, and tomorrow it could be anything.
This is a film about the risk of external evaluation. When a woman wants to remain beloved forever… or at least not despised. And she’s willing to pay any price for that.
The film seeks to address the following questions:
• Are our desires truly our own, or are they imposed by society?
• Are we always aware of the cost? Is it ever proportional?
• What’s wrong with this society and its standards?
• And where can we find the true "us" in all of this?
The main character (essentially a composite of a mature woman) is only willing to live as her "best version." She doesn’t know how to deal with her "non-ideal self." Today it’s about appearance, and tomorrow it could be anything.
This is a film about the risk of external evaluation. When a woman wants to remain beloved forever… or at least not despised. And she’s willing to pay any price for that.
The film seeks to address the following questions:
• Are our desires truly our own, or are they imposed by society?
• Are we always aware of the cost? Is it ever proportional?
• What’s wrong with this society and its standards?
• And where can we find the true "us" in all of this?
Photo: kino-teatr.ru, s3.kinoteatr.ru, m.sport-express.ru