WHAT I LIKED: Coralie Fargeat's 'The Substance,' is about how society bases a woman's worth on her appearance. Thematically revelatory it may not be then, but impactful it is nonetheless.
The film follows a Hollywood star called Elisabeth (Demi Moore) who's promptly fired from her TV job by a slimy executive who derides her supposedly withering looks and past-it age with a plan to (literally) trade her in for a younger model. She enrols in a strange programme to create a younger, fitter clone of herself, and they have to swap lives on a weekly basis whilst the other lies in a coma on the bathroom floor. The similarities and differences in the way the world treats the more "attractive," Sue (Margaret Qualley) is brilliantly revealing, as whilst she benefits from privileges that range from being checked out on the street to getting Elisabeth's old job, she's clearly just being objectified at every turn as well.
Despite this treatment, the majority of the film sees a hateful battle ensue between the two women, with Elisabeth jealous of Sue's attention, and Sue trying to rob pieces of Elisabeth's life to get more for herself. That also says something about the consequences of this objectifying culture, but the moment the film really has something to say is right at the end when the pair (literally) come together to break free from that and get revenge on their audience of executives and superficial admirers in one hilariously cathartic explosion of tension.
That final sequence is also a culmination of the shocking body horror that characterises the rest of the film, which extends from the moment Elisabeth gives birth to her younger self, to Sue's final moment of revenge on Elisabeth before the conclusion. The strong cinematic language isn't only used for shock factor though, as, when combined with the clinical production design and cinematography, it also exposes these women's bodies as the objects that everyone sees them as, and drives the point of the film home further.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: That language arguably plays into the objectification that the film is supposed to be critiquing, but I'm not convinced by that argument. The real problem with the film is that, prior to the ending, there's no hint that the two women want to break free from their jealousy and self-objectification, so they never really feel like real people of their own with complex wishes and desires. The only moment of humanity comes from one touching scene where Elisabeth examines her aging self in the mirror, but even then it's in the context of wanting to win admiration from a man, and her change in attitude only really happens at the very end.
VERDICT: Coralie Fargeat's 'The Substance,' uses its clever body horror concept to show a woman who's objectified by the world and themselves.
