The Substance

Grade: A

When I appeared in a production of Romeo and Juliet, our director liked bringing up the observation that literally everything that happens in the play got set into motion because someone bit their thumb at somebody else on the street. The Substance has a “thumb biting” of its own. Demi Moore’s character overhears a phone conversation Dennis Quaid has in the bathroom, and that starts everything. Nothing that follows would have happened otherwise.

Moore plays Elizabeth Sparkle – once very famous and on top of the world, but now aging, past her prime, and hosting a daytime aerobics TV show. Those who don’t watch her program ask “whatever happened to her?” One of the opening shots is a time-lapse of her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, from its fresh installation to its accumulation of wear and tear and cracks, as people walk right by it. Very metaphorical. After a taping of her show, the women’s restroom is out of order, so she goes into the men’s room. While in the stall, a grotesque misogynistic executive named Harvey enters to do his business, while carrying on a phone conversation. “She’s over the hill! We gotta get somebody younger, fresher, hotter!” – is the basic gist.

Feeling sad, self-conscious, and distracted, she gets into a vicious car accident, but emerges completely unscathed, like Moore’s ex-husband in Unbreakable. While at the hospital getting looked at, a suspiciously youthful-looking doctor slips Elizabeth a flash drive containing a video with information about something called The Substance. One injection (if done properly) creates a younger, more vibrant version of you. It’s not a different person. It’s you. It’s very important that you stick to the schedule. You are yourself for 7 days, then you’re the other you for 7 days, while your other self is hidden away at home, in a coma, on feeding fluids.

Enter Andie MacDowell’s daughter Margaret Qualley (Kinds of Kindness, Drive-Away Dolls, Poor Things) as the alternate Elizabeth, who calls herself Sue. She promptly rises to fame by answering a newspaper ad about an audition to “be the next Elizabeth Sparkle.” As literally the original one, naturally, she gets the job, and her own fitness show. I had a laundry list of logistical questions, such as how one would navigate the problem of everyone in your life suddenly only seeing you for one week on, one week off, etc. Plus, Elizabeth is an actress/dancer, not a doctor, yet is awfully adept when it comes to administering injections and stitching up wounds. Are all the other clients of The Substance this good at it? Whatever. These quibbles wash away quickly, and become outweighed by the sheer enjoyment of the spectacle; one of the most unforgettable movies of the year, to be sure.

The allegory is palpable here. This could have been an episode of The Twilight Zone or Black Mirror. It’s a commentary on the pressure and impossible standards of beauty set on women by little shallow white men in high places. They like you as long as you still look sexy, then once they think you don’t anymore – next! There is also unreasonable, unfounded pressure that Elizabeth puts on herself. Demi Moore, at age 61, looks amazing for even a 45-50 year old. When she looks at herself unclothed in the mirror, fixating on perceived flaws, I don’t think any viewer would deem it necessary for her to go to these lengths. Moore is fearless in this movie. She is naked in every sense of the word, and it’s the best performance of her career.

The other two primary characters do top-rate work. Ray Liotta was originally cast as Harvey, but died before he could film his scenes. He would have been great, but Dennis Quaid is better here than anything from his prolific last year and a half, including Reagan. With his gruff delivery and Jack Nicholson smile, he’s like a nightmarish villain from an Oliver Stone or David Lynch film. I certainly have never seen Margaret Qualley quite like this. As the hunger for fame and continued hotness rises, let’s just say we find out what happens when you play fast and loose with The Substance’s parameters.

Though it absolutely deserves to go the distance as a top Oscar nominee, I’m unsure whether the Academy members will completely get behind The Substance, because it’s so grisly and out there. It at least needs a nomination in the makeup category. My jaw was on the floor throughout the final sequence. Every time I thought “this must be the moment everyone’s talking about,” thing after thing after thing would happen. It culminates in a bloody blaze of glory, and there’s a certain macabre peace in its last moment. I can only imagine what the news reporters in the world of the movie would write in articles after this climax. What can you say after such a thrilling, shocking allegorefest?

Grade: A