Watching a film like "The Substance" by French director Coralie Fargeat made me consider how certain works can be liked or disliked, but they certainly cannot leave the viewer indifferent. Much like Pasolini's films: undoubtedly controversial but by no means insignificant. On the contrary, they could feel like a punch in the stomach, perhaps salutary in drawing the attention of a somewhat drowsy audience. In this specific case, it’s a bit reductive to label the film merely as an example of body horror, because the director brings so much to the table and stimulates quite a few healthy reflections.
The protagonist is a certain Elisabeth Sparkle (played by the talented and beautiful Demi Moore), once a Hollywood diva and now host of a TV aerobics program (a bit in the style of Jane Fonda). The show would have good ratings if it weren't for a minor flaw: the former diva is now a middle-aged woman, as aesthetically pleasing as she might be. Which, according to certain reference parameters in the entertainment world, cannot hold valid indefinitely. Therefore, the TV director named Harvey (Dennis Quaid is superb in portraying an arrogant and vulgar male character) decides to fire Sparkle, intending to replace her with an emerging young talent. Obviously, the elderly (?) woman feels demoralized and, in a state of dark thoughts, gets involved in a severe car accident, from which she miraculously escapes unscathed. Just before leaving the hospital, a nurse leaves her a USB stick with brief information about a mysterious therapy called "The Substance." It would essentially be a kind of liquid that, when injected into the body, creates a younger alter ego of the person interested in the therapy through parthenogenesis. A more beautiful and perfect copy, defying the inexorable passage of time. All this while adhering to a non-negotiable condition: the two entities, which remain fundamentally the same person of different ages, must alternate every 7 days, with one remaining in hibernation while the other leads an active life.
Everything seems to go smoothly, and the younger version of Elisabeth, named Sue and vividly portrayed by the dazzling Margaret Qualley, becomes the new aerobics program host. But this is precisely where the "The Substance" therapy mechanism fails: as Sue achieves such success that she becomes a new Hollywood star, Elisabeth starts to fall into depression, and, worse still, the specific clause of the 7-day alternation is no longer scrupulously respected. This happens because Sue, like any young person, is hungry for life and various experiences, lacking the wisdom acquired by mature individuals. In short, everything inevitably falls apart, sliding towards a horrid and grand-guignolesque ending (here perhaps the director exceeds in the grotesque).
A crescendo of dramatic twists is inevitable, and undoubtedly the viewing is not suitable for an easily impressionable audience with a weak stomach (not in my case, moreover, having just had a hefty lunch of pasta and a cheese and cold cuts platter). But the film boasts several strengths. First, the technical aspect is highly refined, both for the performances by the actresses (at ease even in the more risqué and uninhibited scenes) and actors previously mentioned, and for a series of high-level special effects (a commendation should be given to Pierre Olivier Persin, responsible for this aspect).
Moreover, the director demonstrates a solid general culture (literary references to Oscar Wilde and Franz Kafka, pictorial to Francis Bacon) and cinematic culture. And here it's not just the body horror genre (echoes of Cronenberg, Lynch, Zemeckis), but also certain calls to Kubrick (that of "2001: A Space Odyssey," "A Clockwork Orange," "The Shining"), as well as the theme of the double in a feminine key (how not to remember Hitchcock's "Vertigo").
But beyond the above, the themes inherent in the story are decidedly tough. There is the reification of the female body according to the prevailing beauty standards in the entertainment world, certainly very masculinist but still supported by strong vanity and fierce female competition (a beautiful middle-aged woman will view the debut of a rising twenty-year-old, hungry for success and money, with concern). It is paradoxical that a serum called "The Substance" acts on a person’s external form but ends up damaging the self of those who use such concoction. In short, the "Substance" harms internally, even if it makes one apparently beautiful and performant. And it all stems from a great illusion: to stop time, that unstoppable flow that changes everything (already the Greek philosopher Heraclitus theorized more than 2500 years ago "panta rei" or everything flows). One can try to challenge the nature in which they are immersed, but sooner or later a hefty price must be paid.
If we then consider the existence of a flourishing sector (never in crisis, like the arms industry) dedicated to cosmetic surgery (silicone injected into breasts, botulinum aplenty, liposuction, etc.), anti-aging therapies (for instance, the widespread anti-wrinkle creams), and so on, the picture is very broad and denotes a substantial self-dissatisfaction among many women and men (and this applies even to those who are not public figures).
Perhaps "The Substance" can be jarring, but it has the merit of urging us to observe more closely the reality in which we are immersed and in which we do not always fully perceive the inner void of many, too many people. Perhaps, to realize this, not only Coralie Fargeat's film would be useful, but also remembering what Rainer Maria Rilke wrote some time ago, paradoxically: "Beauty is only the beginning of the terrible."
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By Anatoly
"The Substance stages the anger against the cage of flesh. An anger as irrational as it is understandable and very human."
"Hollywood and its lights intensify the desire to shine, weighing down the fall and pain of the crash. The stars burn bright but briefly, like tears in the rain."