Road to the Oscars Review: ‘The Substance’ is Almost a Traumatic Experience

Every year, in the time between when the Academy Award nominations are announced and the actual Oscars ceremony is held, OFM movie reviewer and associate editor Julie River tries to watch all the movies nominated for Best Picture that year. In the years since the pandemic, this has become easier, as a lot move of the movies are now available on streaming.

Last year was the first year since they expanded the number of Best Picture nominees from five to 10 that River managed to make it through all 10 nominated films, and as she did so, she wrote reviews of them for OFM. This year, she aims to do it again, watching all 10 nominated films and writing about them for this site. She already saw and reviewed Emilia Pérez and I’m Still Here as part of her coverage of this year’s 47th Annual Denver Film Festival. That leaves her with eight films to watch and review. Can she make it through all 10 films again? Find out on OFM’s Road to the Oscars!

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Coralie Fargeat’s body horror film The Substance is definitely the most difficult film I’ve had to watch so far out of the Best Picture nominees. The viscerally disgusting film is made all the more terrifying by the fact that the premise is all too tempting, leaving an overwhelming sense that just about anyone could be tempted to make the same mistakes as the film’s lead character. Somehow fusing Requiem for a Dream with The Picture of Dorian Gray, it’s a haunting tale of addiction in light of the extremes that society tries to push women to.

The film follows Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore), a former Academy Award-winning film star who now been leading a long-running aerobics show on television. After being fired from her job on her 50th birthday, Elisabeth is involved in a car accident that she miraculously walks away from, but which brings her to a nurse who gives her information on “The Substance,” a black market treatment that causes the person to spawn a younger, more beautiful body that they share their consciousness with. The younger version of themselves gets seven days before they have to turn back into the older version for seven days. The younger person can push themselves beyond seven days, but in doing so they always steal some youth and beauty from the older version that can never be restored.

Elisabeth’s younger version names herself Sue (Margaret Qualley) and answers a casting call for young fitness instructors to take over Elisabeth’s show. Sue skyrockets to popularity, becoming the new young and sexy “it” girl. But, while the creators of the substance want to remind the users that “you are one” and there is no separation between Sue and Elisabeth, the two start to develop a contentious relationship between each other as Sue tries to steal more and more time from her older self. As Elisebeth becomes increasingly deformed, she looks to stop the experience, but does she have the strength to end her addiction to being young and beautiful?

The hardest part about watching this movie is knowing how quickly I’d fall for “The Substance.” As a trans woman, I can certainly see the urge to step into another body, especially if that body could help me realize my ideal gender presentation. As an aging woman, the temptation to step into a younger body is tempting as well. Yet, I know that I could see myself making all the same mistakes that Elisabeth does, pushing myself beyond what was healthy and becoming addicted to the experience. Thus, watching Elisabeth fall prey to hubris was especially disturbing as her body becomes more and more hideous throughout the film.

Demi Moore is the real star of the show here, demonstrating a descent into madness that, again, brings to mind Darren Aronofsky famous drug addiction opus Requiem for a Dream. That’s no accident, as there are even versions of Elisabeth’s progression that were directly based on Requiem. But you can really understand and even relate to Elisabeth’s spiral out of control, and it’s really a testament to Moore’s talent that she was able to make that so relatable. In some ways, Qualley and Moore shared their performance, as they were, in some ways, the same character. But one of the points of the movie is that the two halves of the self start to become antagonists, and Qualley really builds her half of the character into a sort of villain of the piece who is subtly detestable.

One of the little design elements I noticed was how much the film made visual reference to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining from 1980, such as the design of the carpet in the TV studio, the color scheme of the bathroom in the TV studio, and even one of the shots when Elisabeth is locked in a bathroom. Much like Kubrick, Fargeat is using big, bold strokes to tell this story and not really hiding a lot in subtlety. But, much like Aronofsky, she’s finding really creative ways to tell the story in those big, bold strokes.

In many ways, The Substance isn’t just a horror film, it’s a tragedy. As much as the film draws gasps at several points for its freak out moments, it’s more about how an addiction can spiral out of control and lead to one’s downfall, and that’s a classic tragic flaw. The way that everything comes to a head at the end is horrific, but also kind of extends into the silly, but somehow it never undercuts the film’s true horror and sadness. There’s a definite empathy for Elisabeth because she represents the hopes and desires of women in a society that expects us to meet truly ridiculous expectations. She is very much an everywoman, and in that the film is more of a psychological horror to behold.

The Vegas odds* on The Substance put it at a very unlikely pick for Best Picture, but Demi Moore is currently the favorite to win Best Actress. Mikey Madison, star of Anora, finds herself in a very close second, but I still think this is more likely to go to Moore. Demi Moore has never even been nominated for Best Actress before, but she’s a legacy actress with a ton of beloved roles that have never been honored. The Academy often likes to look at Best Actress and Best Actor awards in terms of the actor’s entire career, even if that’s not particularly fair as they’re supposed to be getting nominated for a particular role. But I can see the Academy treating this as Moore’s lifetime achievement award and also as an award to celebrate her significant career comeback. I don’t see a newcomer like Madison competing with that.

Regardless, the nomination of The Substance is significant as it takes a bit for the Academy to acknowledge horror. But The Substance is as complex and artistic of a horror film as one can make. A truly disturbing film, this film is truly unforgettable, and becomes almost traumatizing. Be warned, this is not a film that’s going to leave you in a happy place. I needed a moment to recover from having watched this film because that ending was particularly difficult to watch, but I’m still glad I did because this is a true achievement in horror.

Rating: 96/100

*I’m going to be referring to the Vegas odds on the Oscars because I think they’re a handy guide to gauge the likelihood of a film winning a particular award, but I do want to emphasize that betting on the Oscars is not legal in the state of Colorado, and this is just something I bring up for fun in my predictions. We are not endorsing anyone gambling on the Oscars in an area where it isn’t legal.

The Substance is streaming on MUBI.

All photos courtesy of Instagram