REVIEW: ‘The Substance’ shocks, thrills and satirizes

French women are on a roll with body horror films lately with Julia Ducournau helming “Titane” in 2021 and CoralIe Fargeat crafting this flick in 2024.

The newer picture, “The Substance,” centers on actress and aerobics instructor Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore). Once a major player in the Hollywood scene, Sparkle’s career has faded a bit over the years and things get worse when she finds out her time as host of a morning aerobics show is coming to an end.

Through a series of events, though, she comes in possession of a serum that claims to create a younger, more beautiful version of the person she is. She ends up taking it and it works, creating another version of herself to live through (Margaret Qualley). However, as time goes on, the needed balance between her two selves begins to deteriorate.

“The Substance,” though not for the faint of heart, is a really memorable picture. It has a unique sci-fi concept at play and Fargeat certainly makes the absolute most out of it. The way the film unfolds with a situation spiraling out of control keeps a viewer thoroughly hooked with anticipation for what will happen next.

In a way, the picture is reminiscent of “A Different Man” from earlier this year, in that each is about a person making a “Monkey’s Paw” decision about their looks. As expected, though, this movie covers some different territory than that one did.

In her film, Fargeat takes major aim at beauty standards and the entertainment industry, while also exploring the universal issue of aging that everybody faces. What makes the commentary work, for the most part, is how personal it all feels to the lead character and her arc.

Where the movie ends up struggling is in the execution of its premise for a little more than half of its runtime. The audience is meant to see Elisabeth and her younger doppelgänger Sue as having one consciousness, but sometimes it doesn’t really feels like that’s the case.

It comes across more like Sue is a younger clone with Elisabeth’s memories, rather than one of two bodies the core personality lives in. As a result, the dynamic at play isn’t quite as effective because it feels like there aren’t many benefits for Elisabeth with the substance.

The world around the main character can also feel a bit simplistic at times. Part of that is intentional, such as making her boss Harvey (Dennis Quaid) a vapid individual who makes decisions based almost entirely on misogynistic thinking. It’s a clear critique of the male gaze.

However, in other aspects, it feels like a lack of world-building. For example, Sue’s breakout is ridiculously fast, on top of the fact that she doesn’t have things like a Social Security number or driver’s license or last name. Elisabeth, meanwhile, has no friends or family who’re able to react to any changes in her personality or identity.

It should also be noted that the film’s climax does really go wild, for better and for worse. On the one hand, it’s a bold ending that’s really the culmination of everything it’s been leading to. However, it also goes on a bit too long and gets to the point where it starts to really lose its meaning and impact.

With all that said, the movie is still rather entertaining and is definitely helped by Moore giving one of her best performances. She puts everything she has into her performance that goes to all sorts of places. Her work is exceptional, capturing the character’s frustration, desperation and declining mental state.

Qualley deserves credit for her turn as the younger version of the character as well. She brings a fiery side to the alter ego and it works. Quaid is solid as well on screen, really nailing the sleaze-ball producer character.

The special effects, as well as the makeup work that all went into creating the science fiction elements of the picture need a shoutout, too. There are some gnarly moments in this movie, and it all looks incredible. There’s some incredible body horror stuff taking place and it is sufficiently intense visually.

“The Substance” has a couple issues in terms of how its premise plays out and the world its set in. But it’s still an intriguing, macabre science-fiction picture with a ton of flair added by its director and a superb lead performance from Moore. 3.6 out of 5.