The Substance is the film second installment for Coralie Fargeat who wrote, directed, edited and produced it! You can safely say it is a creature of her own making.

The Substance stars Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, two unequal sides of the same coin, or, egg. As they portray Elizabeth Sparkle, or Sue if you’re nasty. In a battle of prehistoric VS questionable workout segments on morning TV.

I’m releasing this today on the 11/11 as it is Demi and my birthday! So let’s get into it.

This film had almost no real advertising and publicity except from a very small trailer at the start of other horror films that portrayed a psychological, clinical deep dive into the corruption of the beauty industry.

Due to the subject nature and the all girl squad, I think many audience goers were initially mistaken in the assumption that this film would delve more into the beauty industry, like The Devil Wears Prads rather than it’s satirical intent.

Therefore the audience reactions spoke for themselves, the film quickly gained more wider traction. The film initially peaked my interest from that small segment, but when I got round to watching it, I wasn’t expecting it to be my favourite film of the year, yet, here we are.

Let me say this simply, this film has style. From the visual contrasts of both Elizabeth and Sue, the colouration of scenes, sound effects, music and practical effects make this an instant timeless classic. This is a film that gets dirty, gritty and leaves nothing to the imagination because in order for you to be invested you need to see with your own eyes the mental anguish that Elizabeth is going through. The most important thing is that The Substance shows and doesn’t tell. The amount of dialogue in the film is minimal and deliberate. What this film can show you, it will. Everything can be followed through the amazing acting of all the cast and how clever the camera work is. The camera work is quite similar to Edgar Wright, it’s clever use of zooming, dramatically switching between characters puts you in the middle of the chaos watching it unfold. The subtle foreshadowing throughout the film, from the fly (referencing The Fly 1986 and that transformation),the endless references to eggs and more.

Is it a comment on today’s beauty standards and the warped perception of beauty? Yes. But that’s just the surface. Everything from the packaging of the Substance, the delivery, the convenience is just as much of a reflection of today’s issues as the beauty angle on its own. The ability to order anything, for any purpose it’s advertised as, instantly and discretely shows how the pursuit of beauty has become more risky and more dangerous then ever before. The cold uncaring corporate entity, a monotone voice uncaring of your name but your order number.

I’ve seen many reactions to this film, everyone says the same thing, that they wouldn’t take the Substance without more instructions, more information. But what this film accurately shows is, no matter how brief and how bold the instructions are, you will ignore them. You will abuse it. Because the ends justify the means.

How every step of the way as Elizabeth and Sue battle it out, they are reminded they are one. But both of them are literally cut from the same cloth, they are both to blame for each other. It’s self inflicted punishment that’s excused by blaming others. We as the audience are baited into this as we follow Elizabeth’s story from the beginning. But Sue’s story is equally Elizabeth’s.

The ending of this film is pretty incredible, it is where the film gets the most unhinged and this may lose people in the process. But I see it, the comparison made to Cinderella is all too clear. The blue dress, the stroke of midnight where she is revealed for who she truly is. Yet she is met with fear, anger and disgust. The body horror is obviously off the charts and probably some of the best that’s ever been made in a movie but what it excellently highlights is, that at the end of the day we are all meat, we are all flesh and blood and bone. Despite being made of the same stuff as each other, we cruelly judge each other on appearance. Forgetting who is inside, who’s crying out for acceptance.

To the final image of Elizabeth’s face crawling onto her own star, looking up she sees herself once again at the peak of her career and beauty. It’s only when she’s stripped away of her body, of everything she has, does she finally realise she was a star all along. She does matter. She does deserve to exist. A realisation that comes at great cost and something to us all to reflect on.

We should be kinder to ourselves!

The Substance by far is my top horror film of the year and it is probably THE body horror film of this generation, up with all the greats.

Feel Reel Rating – 9/10.