The Substance review: a grotesque reckoning with our youth obsession

Although studios love to tout their latest horror films as being so terrifying that they traumatize audiences, it is rare for films to live up to the hype. But The substance Writer-director Coralie Fargeat's new body horror film is infinitely more disturbing (a feature, not a bug) than the first trailers suggested.

Films about the agony of living up to female beauty ideals are nothing new, but The substance weaves them into a succinct feminist parable that feels like it was stabbed directly into the moment that gave us Ozempic on demand and brat. And what the film lacks in subtlety, it makes up for with an inspired – if sickening – story that's meant to get under your skin, no matter how safe you feel in your body.

After years of hosting her popular aerobics TV show, fitness icon Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) has almost everything she ever dreamed of. She's rich, famous, and her face is all over Los Angeles, where her name has become synonymous with the unabashed sexiness of her long-running series. However, on the day Elisabeth turns 50, her pig-headed boss Harvey (Dennis Quaid) tells her that her time at the studio is coming to an end. He insists that Elisabeth's firing is just a result of viewers' changing tastes in programming, but she knows it's because of her age.

Elisabeth understands that women, especially in show business, can become persona non gratae once men in power decide they are no longer physically desirable. And the fact that she is retiring worries Elisabeth so much that she barely thinks twice when she is given the opportunity to try a mysterious drug that promises to transform her into a “younger, more beautiful, more perfect” version of herself. The substance works, and Elisabeth gives birth to Sue (Margaret Qualley) in a twisted way – a beautiful 20-year-old whose looks send men into cartoonish fits of rage. But as happy as Elisabeth is at first with her secret double life, she soon comes into conflict with Sue, as “they” have difficulty following the strict rules of how The substance should be used.

It doesn't take many hits to get through The substancefrom its glossy icing to its powerful message about the way society pressures women to strive for and conform to unrealistic ideas of femininity. The substance repeatedly explains that Elisabeth and Sue are the same person and must each switch between their physical forms for a week to remain stable. The conceit itself is an effective metaphor for how our youth-obsessed culture drives people to drastically change themselves with drugs, cosmetic surgery, and extreme lifestyle changes, all of which carry some degree of risk.

It is unbearable to see this The substances visceral shots of skin being ripped apart and bodily fluids being drained through twisted tubes. Yet when Sue steps out into the world, Fargeat presents it as a wonderland of sex and power that is intoxicating enough to make the pain of her transformation worthwhile. Although The substance Although The Last Man features a handful of other characters, Moore and Qualley dominate the film with their competitive performances. Together, they paint a complex picture of a woman at war with herself for control of a life they are both responsible for but experience very differently.

Moore brings a desperate weariness to Elisabeth, whose status as a spandex-wearing fitness icon seems like a nod to the actress' rise to fame in the early '80s. And there's something sociopathic about the way Qualley portrays Sue, a woman who only plays the unsuspecting “girl next door” type to confuse rough men. As the drug opens more and more doors for Sue that were once closed to Elisabeth, The substance begins to reflect many of the beats that All about Eva while she channels a dark eroticism reminiscent of Paul Verhoeven’s ShowgirlsBut as Elisabeth and Sue's struggle for control over their lives becomes more and more intense, the film takes a direction reminiscent of David Cronenberg's crash And Crimes of the futurewhich Fargeat makes his own with buckets full of artfully splattered entrails.

Although it has a distinct comedic touch, The substance is not a film for the faint-hearted. Many of the most striking scenes are drenched in blood spurting from unnatural orifices and bodies deforming in nightmarish ways. They are spectacularly sickening. Fargeat wants you to feel the fantasy and experience the suffering that comes from trying to maintain it. The substance You may feel nauseous and a little dizzy afterwards, but that's how you know it's working.

The substance Also starring: Hugo Diego Garcia, Philip Schurer, Joseph Balderrama, Tom Morton and Robin Greer. The film will be released in cinemas on September 20th.