Author/Director Coralie Fargeat set the bar excessive for herself in 2017, along with her debut characteristic Revenge delivering a visceral, female twist to the rape-revenge thriller that climaxed in an epic massacre. A lot that it appeared almost inconceivable to high. But the filmmaker does simply that with sophomore effort The Substance, remodeling a well-recognized idea into one thing so entertaining and grotesquely excessive that it retains you firmly in its grip till an epic, grand guignol end.
Demi Moore stars as Elisabeth Sparkle, a Jane Fonda-type getting old starlet nonetheless kicking butt as an cardio teacher on a morning present, a lot to the chagrin of her sleazy producer boss Harvey (Dennis Quaid). Elisabeth is already feeling the Hollywood pressures that apply to older ladies in present enterprise when she overhears Harvey’s intention to swap her out with an rising ingenue. When she’s tipped off to a mysterious new anti-aging therapy, The Substance, Elisabeth realizes she may possess the reply to her and Harvey’s issues. The Substance offers Elisabeth with precisely what she wanted- a youthful model of herself with profession ambition in spades. Nevertheless it comes with strict guidelines and gnarly penalties if damaged.
The Substance is a pure, trendy evolution of Revenge in visuals, type, and theme. Elisabeth, and her youthful counterpart, Sue (Margaret Qualley), signify traditional female archetypes. Sue, significantly, shares Revenge’s affinity for bubblegum pink-loving girlies with large star or coronary heart earrings and flaming legendary creatures. The boys are equally crude and repulsive, although with a heightened sense of exaggerated absurdity. An early scene sees Elisabeth attempting to placate her boss Harvey throughout a piece lunch, however the excessive fish-eye closeups of Quaid eviscerating shrimp in probably the most barbaric style, full with slurping, squelching sounds, ensures each little bit of Elisabeth’s disgust is palpable. It’s a world the place nobody is likable, a stunning reward that unshackles the narrative and its characters, letting them be at their absolute worst for our amusement (and disgust).
The sound design crew does an unbelievable job delivering a continuing assault on the senses, a methodical technique of getting you squirming in your seat lengthy earlier than the physique horror arrives. It’s matched by a vibrant manufacturing design, a daring, colourful mixing of the ‘80s and the current to additional instill the fashionable but otherworldly setting. It is a world that’s based mostly on actuality, however isn’t certain to it, letting Fargeat ramp up the madness at a measured however brisk clip.
Fargeat isn’t simply taking purpose at the unrealistic magnificence requirements that plague Hollywood right here however the best way that these requirements create vicious, more and more shorter cycles of much more inconceivable requirements. The tougher the try to evade age, the extra catastrophic it appears to get. The push and pull between Elisabeth and Sue, each in the end certain by the identical physique and wishes but torn aside by age, is made all of the extra riveting by the fearless performances by Moore and Qualley- each working in exquisitely uncommon type, unafraid to get susceptible or gross.
And boy, does this film put them each by way of the wringer within the gross division. Prosthetics and make-up results designer Pierre Olivier Persin (Border, “Sport of Thrones”) additionally actually does his half in bringing the jaw-dropping ick issue.
As over-the-top and gloriously hardcore because the finale goes, the exact sort that calls among the goriest of the early ‘90s to thoughts, it’s the humorousness that surprises most. Fargeat is having a blast lambasting Hollywood’s skittishness round getting old, stating the absurdity of all of it at each flip. It yields a brand new camp horror traditional, daring in its strategy and delightfully deranged. It’s as humorous as it’s revolting, present in a heightened sense of actuality that’s as hypnotic as off-putting.
Fargeat helms with assured confidence, delivering a tactile visible feast for the senses. Contemplating simply how insane the horror will get, full with a protracted finale that greater than earns the strong runtime, effectively, right here’s to hoping it doesn’t take Fargeat fairly so lengthy to launch her subsequent horror manifesto. The Substance is a campy physique horror revelation.
The Substance screened at TIFF and releases in theaters on September 20, 2024.
