This is your warning that there will be spoilers ahead.
There has been no other cinematic film to come close to the epitome of satirical science fiction horror and there will be no movie that will ever compare to “The Substance.”
The director, Coralie Fargeat, so cunningly warps and intensifies each scene, all with great discomfort and direction for the sole purpose of speaking to her audience. An electric shock is sure to creep up your spine and leave a terrible uneasy feeling of disgust. The first time I watched this film, I had to break it up into chunks – that’s how horrifyingly graphic this movie is.
The connections made between the characters of the movie are so intricate, that even though the original plotline seems far too generic for a complex mind, the opposite is in fact true. Dare I say, this director is so impressive that minds like hers are one in a million.
Before I analyze this movie to its finest details, there are a few important scenes I’d like to cover in case you need a little refresher.
To begin, the substance is a black market drug that you inject yourself with in order to create the perfect version of yourself. It doesn’t just transform your body, it makes a completely new version of yourself – a second body – and you can only live in one of your bodies at a time. Presumably, you’d probably want to exist in the perfect version of yourself – as our main character, Elisabeth Sparkle, does.
There are four very clear rules Elisabeth was given:
1) Stabilize the second body with the fluid coming from the original body everyday
2) Switch bodies every seven days without exception
3) Remember you are one
4) In order to conserve the body you aren’t using, you are instructed to inject an IV bag filled with liquid food into the arm of the unconscious body for seven days.
In the beginning of the movie when Elisabeth’s Hollywood Star of Fame starts to erode away with time and attract less attention, we can predict her age will inevitably hinder her future successes. Although this is a minor detail, this scene establishes a central plotline that the movie later expands on.
Elisabeth Sparkle, a once very famous actress, ends up on a morning hit show directed by Harvey. Harvey is portrayed as a nasty man – a Hollywood pervert with really bad hygiene. A scene of him munching away on shrimp, chewing like a madman with his mouth wide open and little curds of the shell flying everywhere, while simultaneously dismissing Elisabeth Sparkle from the morning show because “she’s too old now,” is sure to make your stomach churn.
She is upset by getting fired and flips over in a car crash when she sees her face being torn off a billboard. In the hospital, a young nurse inspects her spine and determines that she’s a good candidate for the substance and gives her their number on a harddrive. Although hesitant, she eventually gives them a call and makes the order.
Elisabeth goes through a crazy haze of internal hatred and disgust with herself and her actions, but can’t seem to stop due to her addiction with fame. As she spends more and more time away from her old body and in Sue’s body–the perfect version of herself–Elisabeth’s original body starts to age exponentially. Eventually, she dismisses the crucial warnings that were enlisted within the packaging of the substance and suffers irreversible damage.
Although I could rave on and on about how amazing this movie is, there are a few things that don’t sit right with me. Something I’m a little distraught about is how the movie portrays the process of aging. When Elisabeth Sparkle first inevitably takes a few extra hours in her other body, her original body doesn’t age naturally. It starts out with one big witch-like finger. The finger is deformed, and the skin can be closely compared to that of a rotting apple. The nail is yellow with fungus and the veins are thin and purple.
Later in the film, when Sue is presented with irresistible opportunities to expand her name, her ambitious nature disregards the irreversible aging effects, and steals over a week of time from Elisabeth. This time, when Elisabeth awakens from her unconscious slumber, she’s greeted with aging all over the body, namely her leg which we get a close up shot of.
Something else I find unreasonable is that in the movie, Elisabeth Sparkle doesn’t have any friends, or any close connections for that matter. When she made the switch, it was made apparently clear that she was too embarrassed to go out in her own body, as shown in the scene where she rejects her old classmate’s date. She then goes on to have a meltdown about how she looks–a very raw, relatable scene that I’ll be covering later–so something I don’t understand is why wasn’t anybody worried about her? I would’ve liked to see Elisabeth have some sort of personal connection incorporated into the film to emphasize the effects of negativity inflicted upon yourself on others.
Regardless of the isolation Elisabeth Sparkle endures, her character is so relatable in the sense that I too–and many others I presume–experience negative self-images from time to time. By activating Sue, Elisabeth has already given up on herself. She no longer feels the worth she used to feel, and that’s exactly why she had to bring somebody else to life to relive the constant Hollywood validation.
After marinating on the movie for a few days, I’ve noticed little parts of Elisabeth in my personal life. Her incredible determination to continue her experience with the substance despite having the option to quit overwhelms her as all she can think about is Sue’s dream-like life. Similarly, I see myself not being able to stop scrolling through social media with a tight time crunch even though I know very well good test scores don’t appear magically.
Elisabeth not being able to go out and enjoy her life as herself once Sue started eating away at her confidence is such an incredible representation of self-consciousness. There’s another scene where she practically rips herself apart, bathing her face in her bright red lip, and sits in the dark, feeling so sorry for herself, missing a date she had planned with an old classmate. Even though this scene might be extreme, there’s so much truth and vulnerability that goes into this shot, as it is just Elisabeth and a mirror – no CGI and no stage makeup.
In regards to the director’s hidden message, the main message Fargaet might be exposing is that when you start to age, you start to attract less positive attention, and that digs deep into the ideals of pretty privilege. But it’s not just about self-image, it’s about all aspects of life. In this particular film, we’re presented with a Hollywood star who encounters the substance. But what if instead of Hollywood fame, it was an athlete who stumbled across the substance? What if it was a high-achieving stressed out student? Although we may not have the substance itself, its presence is secretly embedded into our lives.
A student might doom-scroll on TikTok for hours, sacrificing precious time to study for a test, and inevitably end up with an upsetting grade. An athlete skipping practice can also reflect negative effects.
This movie holds a deep meaning that expands past just the ideals of self-image, but more importantly, how societies’ perception affects your ideals of self-image. I truly believe that this movie has to be one of the best of all time. I’m very fond of this film, and there’s no doubt in my mind that you will enjoy it too.
