The Substance: A24, you’ve got some competition
Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself? Younger. More beautiful. More perfect.
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Do you remember the last time you scrolled mindlessly through your Instagram feed? It could've been during this week, today, yesterday…or even right before you read this blog. In any case, at a time where social media is omnipresent in our daily lives, exposure to so many idealistic content creators and general media has created an epidemic in our society—an epidemic of comparison.
While in the midst of the dreadful October midterm week, I found myself in the Rock on a Monday night deciding to buy tickets to a 10:15 pm showing of The Substance rather than studying. Why not treat myself after all the stress and turmoil I’ve endured?
Oh how naive I was.
Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance presents to us the life of Elisabeth Sparkle (the flawed protagonist played by Demi Moore) as a famed aerobics dancer from an 80s-esque fitness show titled “Sparkle Your Life with Elisabeth.” We soon learn that her stardom is fading, as the show is taken off air by Elisabeth’s slimy producer, Harvey. Harvey emphasizes, with a crooked, yellow smile, the importance of the network needing a “new” and “younger” face to keep ratings up. Defeated and feeling forgotten, Elisabeth is miraculously presented with a solution to her problems. In a mysterious package, she finds an injectable black market drug resembling a Monster Energy drink. The drug allows her to create a younger version of herself, one able to elongate her desire to stay in the entertainment industry. However, the only rule that she must follow without exception is to switch between each body every 7 days, or else consequences will ensue.
Up until this point, the film is rather tame in terms of shock element, until the “birth scene” of Elisa’s clone happens in the bathroom. Much like what you would expect straight out of Alien or even Frankenstein, her fully-developed clone suddenly bursts out of her back, shuddering off the carcass of Elisa and writhing on the ground like a newborn baby. Then, as instructed, Sue, the younger clone, begins to sew back together the fleshy pieces of her old body like a leatherbound purse.
The grotesque, raw, somewhat satirical, and utterly revolting way in which Fargeat decided to depict this internalized self hatred and cloning was deeply impactful for me. Although it may have been hyperbolic—and clearly unrealistic— to make such a graphic scene, it symbolizes the staggering efforts one will go through in order to look younger. I admire her boldness to show gore and feminine rage in a way that is abhorring and unusual, tuning it down for no one. Likewise, by causing the split of two bodies to be physical rather than just conscious, it heightened the tension of the conflict by making it between two separate individuals who could fight against one another.
The most notable depiction of this internal conflict is materialized through Elisabeth’s portrait of herself in her canonically older body. Throughout the film, Sue begins to slowly destroy the picture, eventually hastily removing it off of the living room wall as she cannot bear to look at herself anymore. This reminded me much of the internal conflict seen in The Picture of Dorian Gray that Dorian exhibits towards his portrait painted as a younger man. In this sense, the antagonist of the film is Elisa herself in the body of younger Sue. It mirrored many peoples’ life experience of being their own harshest critic, never completely happy with the results they see. As the story progresses, Elisa is offered various opportunities to stop the cycle, yet she continues down this destructive path of yearning for a few days as a blissful young woman once more. The inclusion of the young nurse, who we later learn is also on “the substance,” evokes the message that this longing to be a better version of yourself transcends across different identities.
This film nails the ever present “anti-aging” consumer market that has appeared in the cosmetics industry, placing surmounting pressure across generations of women to look flawless with the newest cream, ointment, and makeup. By far, my favorite scene occurs towards the middle of the film when Elisa (as her older self) plans to go on a date with a longtime friend named Fred—seemingly the only person throughout this film who values her for who she is. As she prepares to get ready for her night out, images of Sue flash into her head, whilst she begins to search for another outfit. Eventually she analyzes herself in the mirror, applying more blush, wrapping a scarf tighter around her neck to cover wrinkles, and even changing her dress to have less of a plunging neckline. As she glares at her reflection, she unexpectedly begins smearing all her lipstick and makeup off angrily, evoking all the pent up rage and envy she has towards the way she has been so effortlessly cast aside by the patriarchal society she lives in.
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As my friends and I exited the movie theater, we were left with an assortment of emotions ranging from disgust to awe to amusement. In fact, this movie was still haunting my thoughts as I studied for my exams the ensuing days. The cautionary tale about the price of yearning for youth hits closer to audiences than we may think, as The Substance transcends identity to reveal the shared experience of feeling unworthy.
Despite all that I’ve mentioned, I would suggest all Pre-Med freshmen watch this film. It surely had me setting up an appointment with my advisor to switch to a humanities concentration…