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The Substance is a 2024 body horror film written and directed by Coralie Fargeat, and starring Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid. The film follows a fading celebrity that decides to use a black market drug, a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself, unknowingly giving her horrifying side effects.

An international co-production between France, the United Kingdom, and the United States,[3] the film premiered on 19 May 2024 at the 77th Cannes Film Festival and was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in its main competition section, where Fargeat won Best Screenplay. It was released theatrically in the UK and US by Mubi on 20 September, and is scheduled for release in France by Metropolitan Filmexport on 6 November.

Plot[]

On her 50th birthday, Elisabeth Sparkle, a once-celebrated, now-faded Hollywood movie star, is unceremoniously dismissed from the long-running aerobics TV show she hosted, with producer Harvey citing her advanced age as the reason. While driving home Elisabeth is distracted by a billboard featuring herself being taken down causing an accident. During a hospital check-up, a nurse slips her a flash drive advertising The Substance, a serum that generates a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" counterpart. After some deliberation, Elisabeth orders The Substance and injects the single-use activator serum, causing a much younger version of herself to emerge from a slit in her back.

The Substance establishes a symbiotic relationship between the two bodies: Elisabeth must transfer her consciousness between the "original self" and "other self" every seven days, with the inactive body remaining unconscious. The other self also requires daily injections of "stabilizer fluid" extracted from the original's spine to prevent deterioration. The other self, named Sue, is quickly hired as Elisabeth's replacement by Harvey. Her new TV show skyrockets her to fame, eventually being selected to host the broadcaster's major New Year's show. As Sue, she enjoys a confident, hedonistic lifestyle, whilst becoming an insecure recluse when living as Elisabeth.

Following a one night stand, Elisabeth learns that staying as Sue longer than seven days causes her original self to age rapidly. The supplier warns that this aging is irreversible, and Elisabeth must follow the switching schedule to prevent this happening again. Despite being a single consciousness, both personas begin viewing themselves as separate individuals, and quickly grow to despise each other. "Elisabeth" becomes jealous of Sue's beauty and success, and resents the latter's frequent disregard of the switching schedule, whereas "Sue" is appalled by Elisabeth's constant self-loathing and binge-eating. Following a particularly self-destructive episode as Elisabeth, a disturbed Sue refuses to switch back, deciding to remain as the other self permanently.

Three months later, on the day of the New Year's telecast, Sue finds Elisabeth's body completely depleted of stabilizer fluid. The supplier informs her that the only way to replenish the fluid is by switching back into her original self. When they switch, Elisabeth finds herself horrifically transformed, now a near-hairless, deformed hunchback.

Desperate to stop Sue's stabilizer abuse from further degrading her body, Elisabeth acquires a serum designed to terminate Sue. However, still craving admiration, Elisabeth stops injecting the serum before resuscitating and reviving Sue, disrupting their symbiotic balance and leaving both fully conscious. Realizing Elisabeth's intent upon seeing the near-empty serum, Sue flies into a rage and savagely murders her before leaving to host the New Year's special.

Without Elisabeth, Sue's body begins to rapidly deteriorate, losing three teeth, a fingernail and her right ear. In a panic, Sue rushes to her apartment and tries to create a new version of herself with the leftover activator serum, something expressly forbidden by the supplier. This inadvertently creates "Monstro Elisasue," a grotesque hybrid of the two forms.

Elisasue dresses and goes to the live broadcast wearing an improvised Elisabeth Sparkle mask. As she gets on stage and starts to speak to the audience, the mask falls off. The horrified audience erupts into violent chaos; a man decapitates Elisasue and a stump on her body drenches the audience with blood. What is left of Elisasue escapes the studio and collapses into viscera. Elisabeth's original face emerges, crawls onto her neglected star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, gazes at the stars, smiles, and melts. The bloody remains are cleaned up by a floor scrubber the next day.

Cast[]

  • Demi Moore as Elisabeth Sparkle
  • Margaret Qualley as Sue
  • Dennis Quaid as Harvey
  • Edward Hamilton Clark as Fred
  • Gore Abrams as Oliver
  • Christian Erickson as Man at Diner
  • Robin Greer as Male Nurse
  • Tom Morton as Doctor
  • Hugo Diego Garcia as Diego
  • Phillip Schurer as Screaming Man
  • Joseph Balderrama as Craig Silver
  • Yann Bean as "The Substance" Voice

Release[]

The Substance was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on 19 May 2024.[4][5] The film received a standing ovation, with conflicting reports that the applause lasted 9 minutes,[6] 11 minutes,[7] or 13 minutes.[8]

Universal Pictures, which originally signed on as the distributor through a deal with Working Title Films, stepped away from the project. Multiple sources told The Hollywood Reporter that the studio was "worried about the prospect of releasing the film".[9] Prior to its Cannes debut, Mubi acquired worldwide rights to the film for $12.5 million, planning to distribute it theatrically in North America, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Latin America, Benelux as well as holding rights for Turkey and India, with its sales company subsidiary The Match Factory handling worldwide sales.[10] The Substance opened in theaters in the US, UK, Latin America, Germany, Canada and Netherlands on 20 September 2024.[11] Metropolitan Filmexport acquired French distribution rights from The Match Factory,[12][13] and will release the film on 6 November 2024.[14]

Reception[]

As of October 9, 2024 (2024-10-09), The Substance has grossed $9.7 million in the United States and Canada, and $11.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $20.9 million.

In the United States and Canada, The Substance was released alongside Transformers One and Never Let Go, and was projected to gross around $3 million from 1,949 theaters in its opening weekend.[15] The film made $1.3 million on its first day, including $512,000 from Wednesday and Thursday night previews.[16] It went on to debut to $3.2 million, finishing sixth at the box office.[17][18] The film dropped only 36% the following weekend, grossing $2 million.[19] In its third weekend it made $1.3 million, dropping 35%, and finishing ninth at the box office despite playing on only 686 screens. Its success has been attributed to strong word of mouth.

Critical response[]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 91% of 309 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.2/10. The website's consensus reads: "Audaciously gross, wickedly clever, and possibly Demi Moore's finest hour, The Substance is a gasp-inducing feat from writer-director Coralie Fargeat."[20] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed by PostTrak gave it an 80% overall positive score (including an average of 4 out of 5 stars), with 75% saying they would definitely recommend it.

Peter Bradshaw's four-star review in The Guardian called it "a cheerfully silly and outrageously indulgent piece of gonzo body-horror comedy".[21] David Ehrlich of IndieWire graded the film an A, calling it "an epic, audacious body horror masterpiece... an instant classic. The most sickly entertaining theatrical experience of the year".[22] Nicholas Barber of the BBC awarded the film four stars out of five, while singling out Moore's performance: "Ripping into her best big-screen role in decades, Demi Moore is fearless in parodying her public image."[23] Phil de Semlyen's five star review in Time Out says it is "Moore who glues it all together, going full Isabelle Adjani-in-Possession in a vanity-free performance full of bruised ego, dawning horror and vulnerability".[24]

Owen Gleiberman in Variety praised the film's director: "Coralie Fargeat works with the flair of a grindhouse Kubrick in a weirdly fun, cathartically grotesque fusion of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Showgirls."[25] Radhika Seth in Vogue called it an "audacious piece of filmmaking ... the most exciting release to have debuted on the Croisette so far" and that it was her "current pick to win the Palme d'Or".[26] Damon Wise in Deadline said it is "a riotous, dreamlike horror-thriller that ends in a delirious symphony of blood, guts and otherwise undefinable viscera".[27]

Themes[]

Wendy Ide of The Guardian praised The Substance for its feminist perspective of older women, making note of how other female-led horror films like Carrie or Rosemary's Baby centre on themes of menstruation and childbirth. She wrote that The Substance, in contrast, "not only offers a female perspective on women's bodies, but also argues that things only start to get properly messy once fertility is a dim memory".[28] New York Times critic Alissa Wilkinson noted the satirically exaggerated camera angles and shots, depicting the female characters in a way "that feels reminiscent mostly of porn". She wrote:

In the end that's what The Substance does best: not just remind us about the absurd standards for female beauty and the destructive power of celebrity, but turn the mirror back on us. The sharpest critique isn't about bodies, but about the way we've trained ourselves to look at those bodies, and the effect that has on our own. The movie is, appropriately enough, a mirror, and our discomfort reveals our own hidden biases and fears about ourselves. Being older, being famous, being seen, being loved, being usurped by someone younger and hotter—it's all here. Nothing like a mirror to remind you what lurks beneath.[29]

Trailers[]

External links[]

References[]

  1. The Substance (2024).
  2. The Substance – Financial Information.
  3. Lemercier, Fabien (20 May 2024). Review: The Substance. Cineuropa.
  4. The Screenings Guide of the 77th Festival de Cannes (8 May 2024).
  5. Keslassy, Elsa; Shafer, Ellise; Ritman, Alex; Debruge, Peter (11 April 2024). "Cannes Film Festival Reveals Lineup: Coppola, Cronenberg, Lanthimos, Schrader and Donald Trump Portrait 'The Apprentice' in Competition". Variety. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  6. Feinberg, Scott (19 May 2024). "Cannes: Body-Horror Flick 'The Substance' Wows Fest, Getting Nine-Minute Standing Ovation". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  7. Donnelly, Matt; Shafer, Ellise (19 May 2024). "Cannes Goes Apes— for 'The Substance,' Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley's Flesh-Shredding Body Horror, With 11-Minute Standing Ovation". Variety. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
  8. Demi Moore's 'The Substance' World Premiere Gets A 13-Minute Ovation At Cannes (19 May 2024). Retrieved on 19 May 2024.
  9. Galuppo, Mia (5 September 2024). Demi Moore's Director Coralie Fargeat Is Not Afraid to Gross You Out With 'The Substance' (in en-US).
  10. Goodfellow, Melanie (8 May 2024). Mubi Acquires Coralie Fargeat's Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid Body Horror Movie 'The Substance' Ahead Of Cannes Debut.
  11. Buzzy Cannes Competition Title 'The Substance,' Starring Margaret Qualley and Demi Moore, Sells to France's Metropolitan (EXCLUSIVE) (13 May 2024).
  12. 'The Substance', Starring Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid, Sells Wide (24 May 2024).
  13. THE SUBSTANCE - Metropolitan Films (in fr-FR).
  14. D'Alessandro, Anthony (17 September 2024). Paramount & Hasbro's 'Transformers One' Rolling To $30M+ Opening – Box Office Preview. Deadline Hollywood.
  15. D'Alessandro, Anthony (23 September 2024). Weekend Box Office Upset! 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice' At $26M Dispels 'Transformers One' From No. 1; Halle Berry & Demi Moore Genre Pics Come Up Short — Sunday AM Update. Deadline Hollywood.
  16. "Weekend Domestic Chart for September 20, 2024", The Numbers.com. Retrieved on 23 September 2024. 
  17. Kay, Jeremy (22 September 2024). Cannes sensation 'The Substance' opens in sixth place at North American box office (in en).
  18. Ritman, Alex (1 October 2024). 'The Substance' Becomes Mubi's Biggest Box Office Success to Date as Company Plants Theatrical Flag in U.S. (EXCLUSIVE) (in en-US).
  19. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_substance
  20. "The Substance review – Demi Moore is game for a laugh in grisly body horror caper", 19 May 2024. 
  21. Ehrlich, David (19 May 2024). 'The Substance' Review: Margaret Qualley Helps Demi Moore Feel Young Again in an Epic, Audacious, and Insanely Gross Body Horror Masterpiece. Retrieved on 19 May 2024.
  22. Barber, Nicholas. The Substance review: 'Magnificently tasteless' horror comedy is Demi Moore's 'best big-screen role in decades'. Retrieved on 19 May 2024.
  23. de Semlyen, Phil (20 May 2024). Review: 'The Substance' is Demi Moore's supremely gory 'Sunset Boulevard'.
  24. Gleiberman, Owen (19 May 2024). 'The Substance' Review: Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley in a Visionary Feminist Body-Horror Film That Takes Cosmetic Enhancement to Extremes.
  25. Seth, Radhika (20 May 2024). Dispatch From Cannes: Demi Moore's Mind-Melting Body Horror The Substance Is a Total Knockout. Vogue.
  26. Wise, Damon (19 May 2024). 'The Substance' Review: Demi Moore And Margaret Qualley Pair Up For The Year's Smartest, Goriest Horror Breakout – Cannes Film Festival.
  27. Ide, Wendy. "The Substance review – Demi Moore is fearless in visceral feminist body horror", the Guardian, 22 September 2024. (in en-GB) 
  28. Wilkinson, Alissa. "'The Substance' Review: An Indecent Disclosure", The New York Times, 19 September 2024. 
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