‘THE SUBSTANCE’: Stay Young Or Die, Please
Coralie Fargeat’s ‘The Substance’, her eagerly awaited follow-up to her debut ‘Revenge’, delivers a raw and unflinching critique of how society commodifies youth and beauty—especially for women. At its heart, this satirical body horror deconstructs the male gaze with sharp precision, mocking its extremes while revealing its harmful impact on women’s self-image. The result is a visually stunning and thematically unsettling exploration of societal obsessions around beauty, ageism, and the commodification of women in Hollywood.
Margaret Qualley and Demi Moore in ‘The Substance’
Starring Demi Moore as Elizabeth Sparkle, a once-celebrated 50-year-old actress, and Margaret Qualley as her younger doppelgänger Sue, the film delves into the surreal consequences of a miraculous beauty drug that splits Elizabeth into two personas: her aging self and an idealized younger version.
When Sue eventually replaces Elizabeth on her show—after Elizabeth is fired on her 50th birthday for being too old—she is hailed as a paragon of perfection by a group of grotesque corporate executives. These aging white men, serving as a thinly veiled metaphor for patriarchal domination, fawn over their “new toy”. One of them delivers a line that echoes throughout the film: “Looks like everything is in the right place this time,” addressing Sue with chilling finality.
Margaret Qualley in ‘The Substance’
This scene sets the tone for a sharp critique of the relentless expectations placed on women, especially in industries like entertainment, where beauty and youth are treated as currency. The producer’s smarmy instruction for the younger Elizabeth to “smile,” echoed by the clamouring demands of the boardroom of old male shareholders, captures this dynamic with painful resonance.
Fargeat wields these moments like a scalpel, dissecting the ways in which the male gaze shapes not only how toxic men see women, but also how women learn to see themselves. It is a theme that also resonates with Demi Moore’s own career trajectory, reflecting in some way her personal experiences in an industry that frequently discards women once they are deemed past their so-called “prime.”
Margaret Qualley in ‘The Substance’
Visually, cinematographer Benjamin Kracun does a brilliant work, drawing on horror aesthetics that evoke comparisons to Cronenberg’s ‘The Fly’ and Kubrick’s ‘The Shining’, among others. In addition, Fargeat’s clever use of sound design is striking. The creaks and groans of an aging body—hauntingly human noises—resonate throughout, emphasising the organic and transient nature of flesh.
These sounds are paired with arresting imagery, from oozing fluids to distorted bodies, highlighting the visceral parallels between human and animal flesh. The result is a poignant reminder that our bodies are ultimately only vessels, destined to stop working.
Demi Moore in ‘The Substance’
‘The Substance’ is in fact as much about the fear of ageing as it is about society’s fixation on beauty and youth, especially for women. While the film offers no easy answers, it leaves a haunting reminder that time is finite, and our bodies are meant to age and eventually die—so why waste precious moments fighting this inevitability, and most importantly, for whose approval and to what end?
AFTERTASTE
4.5