The one and only thing not to forget - you are one

Continuing my trip up Empire's top 20 films of 2024

#7 :  The Substance

One for the body-horror heads! French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat follows up her visceral, rage-filled rape-retribution debut Revenge with this equally extreme exploration of female competition, aging, beauty standards and more. Demi Moore gives perhaps her most vulnerable, full-throated performance ever as Elisabeth Sparkle, a middle-aged fitness TV show host who injects herself with the mysterious titular concoction, birthing a new, younger, better version in Margaret Qualley’s Sue. Fargeat’s world is precise, hyper-stylised, and revels in the grossness of all things bodily – especially in the bonkers, blood-soaked final act – and the film manages to be thought-provoking throughout, and then gloriously cathartic in its pulpy, B-movie-esque ending. Respect the balance. Try the Substance.

I'm not entirely sure what a body-horror film is, but I do know that I very rarely like anything that's described as such - it generally just makes me go "yuck". And nothing above suggests that's not going to be the case here, but I know there was a "Demi was robbed" backlash after the Oscars (and we're going to be seeing who robbed her pretty soon).

Well, as Empire suggests, this is very much a film of two parts. The first two thirds is based upon quite a neat idea which is indeed thought-provoking - what if you could make a better, younger version of yourself? The whole concept is well done, being presented in a nicely vague but also weirdly specific way which both intrigues and engages. But the final third, of course, deals with what happens when the deal goes horribly, horribly wrong.

It's well shot being both stylish and stylised - it all looks very impressive. Coralie Fargeat, the director, is very keen on close-ups, long distance shots, weird camera angles and bright colours (a LOT of red, certainly) and she uses them well. It has some impressive (and often quite horrible) effects and she does a good job in ratcheting up the tension - for large portions of the film, surprisingly little happens whilst also not exactly drowning in dialogue, all of which makes it surprisingly tense.

Plenty of people said it's a brave performance by Demi, but I also suspect there are plenty more people who wished they looked half as good as she does at any age, let alone 62. She does do a good job, but I feel I do need to point out she spends large portions of the film unconscious on the bathroom floor or in a cupboard, other bits completely unhinged and the ending covered in so many prosthetics it really could be anyone in there. Margaret Qualley (Andie McDowell's daughter) is also good - the casting of her as a younger (but not necessarily better) version of Demi works really well. Dennis Quaid is also good in a cartoon-awful way - it's fair to say men don't come out of this film well (not that women are exactly the heroes of the piece either). Wikipedia tells me that Dennis's role was originally to have been played by Ray Liotta, who would also have been good, but the role had to be recast after Ray's death a couple of months into shooting.

As I said, it's an intriguing idea which touches upon various aspects of beauty - objectification, fame, youth and the male gaze at the very least. I can also see that for various people it would have a lot to say about aging and loneliness, but they're not something I (currently) think about too much. However, I'm not entirely sure it's quite as clever as it thinks it is and it really takes its time making its point - the film is 135 minutes long, which is excessive. It's also interesting how much time Demi and Margaret spend naked in a film making a point about objectification - it all feels a bit self-defeating at times.

We also REALLY need to talk about that last third - it's batshit crazy, quite horrible, absolutely ridiculous and goes on far too long (apart from that, it's great, obviously). I can't help but feel a more psychological horror-style ending would have been more effective for me (even though I'd probably have hated it more). There's little doubt that Coralie has made the film that she wants to make, but for me the ending wastes the good work previously done. So whilst there's plenty to admire here, I really can't say I enjoyed it - but if you fancy it then it's available to stream on MUBI or to rent in all the usual places. 

I was also wasn't left feeling Demi was robbed - Anya Taylor-Joy and Kristen Stewart both did better jobs for me in the list so far and we'll just have to wait a couple more films to find out what I thought of Mikey Madison's performance.

#8 - Utterly bonkers but very stylish
#6 - Charming and heartwarming