As absurd, unpleasant body horror, the film is often vividly directly and entertainingly grotesque (though it should be noted the single-most most disgusting image in the film are close-up shots of Dennis Quaid eating prawns). As Revenge proved, Fargeat knows how to put together an arresting image - and The Substance is no different, with an endless parade of amusingly garish and OTT visual choices, plus some endearingly extravagant set & art design. You can't fault Moore and Qualley for absolute committment to the bit.
But man, the satire is so thin and one-note it really starts to grate after a while. I get that there's a fine line between shallow and broad, but I think this one is more of the former than the latter. If it was a tight 90 minutes, maybe it would've gotten away with it. But even with a third act that takes some wild swings (sometimes effective, sometimes just silly), there's just not enough here to sustain 140 minutes. Everything it has to say it establishes immediately, and while there is of course much pleasure in seeing the body horror unfold as outrageously as it does here, there's also an awful lot of repetition in between the good stuff (a lot of it largely set in a single apartment).
At a certain point, you also have to start questioning whether the film is guilty of some of the very same things it's meant to be critiquing - the leery nature of the camera is certainly a 'choice'. Its take on Hollywood is also so cartoonish and anachronistic it lacks any sort of bite. It exists in such an exaggerated unreality that it also inevitably has little of the character or narrative tension of, say, Cronenberg's The Fly.
Again, credit where credit is due - it's big, it's bold, it's sometimes disgusting. It has two great performances and is overall a trip worth taking. But it's also numbing and one-note, and all the nasty body horror effects in the world can't add… ahem… substance to a premise this flimsy.
Well... that was amazing.
Coralie Fargeat is the real deal. The Substance is like if Cronenberg and Lynch had a child who was then raised by Baz Luhrman.
You feel everything in this film. I hope The Zone of Interest marked a precedent and this can get some recognition for its sound design.
At its core this is a sad, sad story and the movie almost never loses focus of that, even as things get crazy. So even when Margaret Quailey starts dropping some sick kung-fu kicks you just go with it because you understand what's going on with the characters.
Props to Demi Moore just for taking this role. Must be really hard to deal with these issues head on. It remided me of Michael Keaton in Birdman but with the extra baggage that comes with being an aging woman in the industry. The scene when she's getting ready for her date is devastating.
I've wanted to see Quailey in a more prominent role since Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and even though she doesn't have many lines she did an amazing job. I swear, there's a very thrilling scene that involves people watching her ass shaking frame by frame like it's the Zapruder Film. I wonder how some people will react to those scenes. They are quite something and could be described as both sexy and sexist. A female director exploiting the male gaze to show the way women are represented in media and how that shapes the way they see and value themselves is interesting. Those scenes make the ones with Demi more powerful and tragic.
All men are creeps here and make you swear that you'll never act like any of them in your life. Dennis Quaid's performance is so disgusting but it works. After all hell breaks loose, the shot of him with the share holders has to be the most uncomfortable of the entire movie, which is saying a lot.
My only issue is that I found the last 10 minutes way too silly, but by then the point has already been made, so I don't blame Fargeat for indulging and wanting to leave on a high note.
One of my favorites of the year. Go watch it but be sure to finish whatever you're eating fast.
I am always on the side of the weird and the bold. The problem here wasn't the weirdness or the boldness, necessarily. The problem was how obvious almost everything was. From the moment the film started, every theme was force-fed, every character was a numbing caricature, and most actions and thoughts were overexplained (holy shit) when they weren't skipped over. It could have been a great short film: a punch, a kick, something acidic and exciting. It could have been more believable (I'm not complaining about the body horror and the fantastical elements, nor I want to nitpick; there were things that I just couldn't accept, even while trying to). It could have been atemporal, instead of feeling needlessly anachronistic. It could have been more profound if it didn't waste our time repeating information every scene and the lessons we need to learn at every tiny chance (holy shit that diner scene).
I love satire. I love camp. But I despise people who are too proud of their supposed intelligence.
I understand those who enjoyed it (I almost did), and I hope more films like this find the opportunity of being successful, but I could not not hate it.
Beautiful and disgusting, a tour de force in body horror that gets under your skin. The story is a pretty bare bones fable, but this simple allegory structure allows Coralie Fargeat's style to shine. And this movie is filled to the brim with style. Superb effects and sound design combine with in-your-face camerawork and editing to deliver some truly transcendental horror.
Coralie Fargeat's The Substance is a visually arresting film, with impeccably designed spaces and extreme close-ups, and a premise that seems very Cronenberg (stylistically Brandon more than David). Demi Moore might have been chomping at the bit to play someone in her essential situation - a star who "aged out" of the business (Moore came back in through independent cinema - there are worse comebacks) - and probably gives a career best performance. Obsessed with beauty standards, she is lured into using the Substance, which creates a younger, more beautiful, "better" version of herself (Margaret Qualley who is having quite the run), but when the rules, which create a kind of Jekyll and Hyde situation, are broken, the side effects start to mount until we reach an absolutely demented gore finale. This comes off as funny and ludicrous, because there's not enough empathy generated by the self-loathing character(s) - they hate themselves so we don't like them either - but as this is a kind of extended "Black Mirror", I don't think we're meant to see their twin existence as anything but a cautionary tale. It's meant as horror-comedy. The script is original and you're never quite sure where it's going, but an overuse of internal flashback elements means it hammers its points home a little too obviously.
I do think the film went on a bit too long. it went past sci-fi/fantasy and into the absurd. Still, very original and a clever mesh of poignant themes. Demi Moore gives the performance of a lifetime and is backed up by the talented Margaret Qualley. And finally, while not quite award worthy, Dennis Quaid still gives up the most "fun to hate" character in film in a long time
The Substance is great because it tackles tough topics like addiction and change in a relatable way. The strong acting and heartfelt writing make the story really emotional and memorable. It encourages viewers to think about choices and the journey to finding hope and healing.
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Comments 1 - 11 of 11
MrW
A frustratingly uneven watch.As absurd, unpleasant body horror, the film is often vividly directly and entertainingly grotesque (though it should be noted the single-most most disgusting image in the film are close-up shots of Dennis Quaid eating prawns). As Revenge proved, Fargeat knows how to put together an arresting image - and The Substance is no different, with an endless parade of amusingly garish and OTT visual choices, plus some endearingly extravagant set & art design. You can't fault Moore and Qualley for absolute committment to the bit.
But man, the satire is so thin and one-note it really starts to grate after a while. I get that there's a fine line between shallow and broad, but I think this one is more of the former than the latter. If it was a tight 90 minutes, maybe it would've gotten away with it. But even with a third act that takes some wild swings (sometimes effective, sometimes just silly), there's just not enough here to sustain 140 minutes. Everything it has to say it establishes immediately, and while there is of course much pleasure in seeing the body horror unfold as outrageously as it does here, there's also an awful lot of repetition in between the good stuff (a lot of it largely set in a single apartment).
At a certain point, you also have to start questioning whether the film is guilty of some of the very same things it's meant to be critiquing - the leery nature of the camera is certainly a 'choice'. Its take on Hollywood is also so cartoonish and anachronistic it lacks any sort of bite. It exists in such an exaggerated unreality that it also inevitably has little of the character or narrative tension of, say, Cronenberg's The Fly.
Again, credit where credit is due - it's big, it's bold, it's sometimes disgusting. It has two great performances and is overall a trip worth taking. But it's also numbing and one-note, and all the nasty body horror effects in the world can't add… ahem… substance to a premise this flimsy.
baraka92
Well... that was amazing.Coralie Fargeat is the real deal. The Substance is like if Cronenberg and Lynch had a child who was then raised by Baz Luhrman.
You feel everything in this film. I hope The Zone of Interest marked a precedent and this can get some recognition for its sound design.
At its core this is a sad, sad story and the movie almost never loses focus of that, even as things get crazy. So even when Margaret Quailey starts dropping some sick kung-fu kicks you just go with it because you understand what's going on with the characters.
Props to Demi Moore just for taking this role. Must be really hard to deal with these issues head on. It remided me of Michael Keaton in Birdman but with the extra baggage that comes with being an aging woman in the industry. The scene when she's getting ready for her date is devastating.
I've wanted to see Quailey in a more prominent role since Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and even though she doesn't have many lines she did an amazing job. I swear, there's a very thrilling scene that involves people watching her ass shaking frame by frame like it's the Zapruder Film. I wonder how some people will react to those scenes. They are quite something and could be described as both sexy and sexist. A female director exploiting the male gaze to show the way women are represented in media and how that shapes the way they see and value themselves is interesting. Those scenes make the ones with Demi more powerful and tragic.
All men are creeps here and make you swear that you'll never act like any of them in your life. Dennis Quaid's performance is so disgusting but it works. After all hell breaks loose, the shot of him with the share holders has to be the most uncomfortable of the entire movie, which is saying a lot.
My only issue is that I found the last 10 minutes way too silly, but by then the point has already been made, so I don't blame Fargeat for indulging and wanting to leave on a high note.
One of my favorites of the year. Go watch it but be sure to finish whatever you're eating fast.
leodelgado01
I am always on the side of the weird and the bold. The problem here wasn't the weirdness or the boldness, necessarily. The problem was how obvious almost everything was. From the moment the film started, every theme was force-fed, every character was a numbing caricature, and most actions and thoughts were overexplained (holy shit) when they weren't skipped over. It could have been a great short film: a punch, a kick, something acidic and exciting. It could have been more believable (I'm not complaining about the body horror and the fantastical elements, nor I want to nitpick; there were things that I just couldn't accept, even while trying to). It could have been atemporal, instead of feeling needlessly anachronistic. It could have been more profound if it didn't waste our time repeating information every scene and the lessons we need to learn at every tiny chance (holy shit that diner scene).I love satire. I love camp. But I despise people who are too proud of their supposed intelligence.
I understand those who enjoyed it (I almost did), and I hope more films like this find the opportunity of being successful, but I could not not hate it.
(Demi Moore was amazing tho)
mcmakattack
Beautiful and disgusting, a tour de force in body horror that gets under your skin. The story is a pretty bare bones fable, but this simple allegory structure allows Coralie Fargeat's style to shine. And this movie is filled to the brim with style. Superb effects and sound design combine with in-your-face camerawork and editing to deliver some truly transcendental horror.Siskoid
Coralie Fargeat's The Substance is a visually arresting film, with impeccably designed spaces and extreme close-ups, and a premise that seems very Cronenberg (stylistically Brandon more than David). Demi Moore might have been chomping at the bit to play someone in her essential situation - a star who "aged out" of the business (Moore came back in through independent cinema - there are worse comebacks) - and probably gives a career best performance. Obsessed with beauty standards, she is lured into using the Substance, which creates a younger, more beautiful, "better" version of herself (Margaret Qualley who is having quite the run), but when the rules, which create a kind of Jekyll and Hyde situation, are broken, the side effects start to mount until we reach an absolutely demented gore finale. This comes off as funny and ludicrous, because there's not enough empathy generated by the self-loathing character(s) - they hate themselves so we don't like them either - but as this is a kind of extended "Black Mirror", I don't think we're meant to see their twin existence as anything but a cautionary tale. It's meant as horror-comedy. The script is original and you're never quite sure where it's going, but an overuse of internal flashback elements means it hammers its points home a little too obviously.nowhereman136
I do think the film went on a bit too long. it went past sci-fi/fantasy and into the absurd. Still, very original and a clever mesh of poignant themes. Demi Moore gives the performance of a lifetime and is backed up by the talented Margaret Qualley. And finally, while not quite award worthy, Dennis Quaid still gives up the most "fun to hate" character in film in a long time8/10
arsCynic
Requiem for a Dream's Sara Goldfarb spinoff is the most elaborate gory Leonardo DiCaprio diss in history.acoltismypassport
A disgusting, self-indulgent turd of a film.However, I haven't faced the screen with such intense disgust in a very long time. For that, it gets my recognition as a favourite.
Make no mistake, however, I will never, ever be watching it again.
Cthulhu1
Intense. Visceral. Human. Fantastic.richjenkins28
If you like this type of crap, you'll love this crap.I prefer actual movies though
bathkuyp
The Substance is great because it tackles tough topics like addiction and change in a relatable way. The strong acting and heartfelt writing make the story really emotional and memorable. It encourages viewers to think about choices and the journey to finding hope and healing.