‘The Substance’: Cannes Review

Dir/scr: Coralie Fargeat. UK/US/France. 2024. 140mins

Writer-director Coralie Fargeat’s second feature may seemingly address a familiar narrative trope — the ageing beauty who makes a faustian bargain to be young again — but this potent body horror is executed with skill and compassion, bringing fresh insights alongside generous helpings of graphic gore. The Substance draws excellent performances from Demi Moore as a has-been Hollywood star and Margaret Qualley as the younger, prettier version she creates by injecting herself with the titular serum. Even if the film occasionally risks overplaying its hand, Fargeat keeps furiously churning through ideas — in particular, about how the entertainment industry traumatises women into doing terrible things to themselves in order to remain employable.

Fargeat delivers in spectacular and revolting fashion

With The Substance, Fargeat further confirms her status as a bracingly feminist filmmaker using extreme genres to skewer systemic misogyny. Her 2017 debut, the brutal revenge thriller Revenge, played at Toronto, and her sophomore film debuts in a Cannes Competition slot. The two leads, alongside a nicely loathsome Dennis Quaid, will help hook viewers — MUBI is handling theatrical for the UK and US — but The Substance should be especially attractive to midnight movie crowds, who will dig its twisted Cronenberg-ian elements. 

Moore plays Elisabeth Sparkle, an award-winning actress who, as she approaches 50, must now content herself with hosting a cheesy workout show. But even that gets taken away when her slimy producer Harvey (Quaid) fires her for being too old. Despondent about her career, which is the only thing she has, Elisabeth learns of a mysterious programme known as The Substance, which promises to give her a better, younger version of herself. Desperate, she signs up, following very specific instructions about how to take the formula and what the rules for this regimen must be. 

Immediately after injecting herself, Elisabeth collapses, a frightening blob ripping itself out of her back. Soon, that blob becomes a gorgeous young woman (Qualley) who inhabits the same consciousness as Elisabeth, who is now deactivated. According to The Substance’s directions, Elisabeth can be herself for a week, but then the younger version, who names herself Sue, must be awake for a week, and so on. Excited at this second chance, Sue prepares to get back her old fitness-guru job.

On the surface, The Substance is a condemnation of Hollywood’s obsession with youth, but Fargeat consistently digs deeper, not just exploring tangential themes but also crafting a rich central character with a sympathetic dilemma. It is impossible not to think of Moore’s own career through the prism of Elisabeth’s — Moore has been a star since the 1980s, although she has not enjoyed plum film roles in recent years — and she brings both poignancy and a sly sense of humour to her portrayal, satirising Hollywood’s shallowness while acknowledging how psychologically damaging sexist attitudes about ’older’ women can be. And Qualley is equally cutting as an almost satirical version of callous youthful ’hotness’. (Worth noting: the actress’ mother is veteran film star Andie MacDowell, adding another level to the film’s observations about ageing.)

It is hardly surprising that Elisabeth elects to take The Substance — and it is equally unsurprising that her hubris causes her myriad nightmares. But while some of those complications may be expected, Fargeat’s thoughtful investigation of this horror-film conceit keeps springing small surprises, sharply commenting on the ways in which we envy and despise our younger selves, seeing them as a different entity than ourselves. In addition, mother-daughter relationships, beauty’s fleeting currency and men’s general awfulness are all examined with a feverish, sometimes unsubtle relish. But Elisabeth is never judged for her decision to create this second persona: The Substance repeatedly illustrates how powerful misogynists like Harvey — the name is surely a reference to Weinstein — drive women to such lengths.

Special makeup effects designer Pierre-Olivier Persin becomes the film’s secret weapon in its second half. Unlike other films that claim to be body-horror, Fargeat delivers in spectacular and revolting fashion, not just conjuring memories of David Cronenberg but also Brian De Palma. At 140 minutes, The Substance can feel bloated and a tad repetitive, but the extra runtime allows Fargeat to push her disturbing premise to its logical, funny, utterly disgusting end point.