It’s a ritual many of us might know too well as we stress over accessories and lip color in the hopes of looking fashionable, carefully adding or subtracting layers of clothes and jewelry to feel good in our own skin. Elizabeth is so displeased with her image, she aggressively wipes the deep shade of lipstick across her face and pulls off the fake lashes from her lids. While it may feel like a cautionary tale for our times, the horrors at the heart of “The Substance” have been with us for many years, and the issues the movie uncovers are so much more than skin deep. As with her lean-and-mean feature debut “Revenge,” Fargeat writes a tight script focused on very few characters.
- HBO Max releasing The Substance is a win for both the film and the streamer.
- As Sue, Qualley is reimagined into the sexpot-next-door with an idealized hot body who has a fondness for neon workout clothes, lip gloss, big earrings, and boys.
- When they switch, Elisabeth finds herself transformed into a deformed, hag-like hunchback.
- Previously, The Substance was released on MUBI’s streaming platform and VOD on October 31, 2024, just one month after its theatrical debut.
- This results in the creation of a grotesque mutated body, «Monstro Elisasue», with both Elisabeth and Sue’s faces.
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It’s easily Quaid’s best acting in recent memory, and it’s not even the best one in the movie. Fargeat shows sympathy for both Elisabeth and Sue’s plights as one might for Frankenstein and the monster he creates. What begins as an experiment towards a new beginning quickly warps with unintended consequences.
Directed by Coralie Fargeat, The Substance is a body horror that doubles as a savage commentary on beauty, aging, and identity. The film follows recently-fired fading celebrity Elisabeth Sparkle (Moore), who uses a black market drug to make a younger version of herself (Margaret Qualley) with unexpected consequences. Elisabeth orders The Substance and injects the single-use serum while naked.
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But Fargeat, who wrote and directed the film, twists the search for a “fountain of youth” shot into a blood-and-neon drenched spectacle. Following a particularly destructive episode as Elisabeth, Sue stockpiles stabilizer fluid and refuses to switch back. Three months later, on the day before the New Year’s Eve show, Sue runs out of stabilizer fluid and contacts the supplier, who informs her she must switch back to replenish the fluid. When they switch, Elisabeth finds herself transformed into a deformed, hag-like hunchback.
Release
This results in the creation of a grotesque mutated body, «Monstro Elisasue», with both Elisabeth and Sue’s faces. Wearing a mask cut from a poster of Elisabeth, Monstro Elisasue attempts to host the show, but the audience erupts into chaos when her disguise falls off. An audience member decapitates her, only for an even more mutated head to grow back, and one of her arms breaks and drenches the audience and studio in blood.
Elisabeth contacts the supplier, who warns that delaying the switching schedule will lead to irreversible, rapid aging of the original body. The Substance is a horror that tackles ageism, beauty standards, and the entertainment industry’s disposability culture in an approach that allowed the film to become incredibly popular, despite its smaller production budget. Now, its boldness, combined with Moore’s performance and Fargeat’s direction, gives The Substance the potential to become a streaming success once again, solidifying its legacy. Now, HBO Max has revealed that The Substance will debut on the streaming platform on October 10, joining next month’s lineup ahead of Halloween. Previously, The Substance was released on MUBI’s streaming platform and VOD on October 31, 2024, just one month after its theatrical debut.
- “The Substance” works as well as it does because of Moore’s unbridled performance as a woman struggling with self-hatred, society’s treatment of her, and a newfound dependency on a miracle drug.
- Near the end of one weekly cycle, Sue brings a man home for casual sex; she delays the switch by extracting additional stabilizer fluid, causing Elisabeth’s right index finger to rapidly age.
- The two bodies must switch consciousness every seven days without exception, with the inactive body remaining unconscious and fed intravenously.
- Elisabeth crashes her car while distracted by a billboard of herself being taken down.
- It’s easily Quaid’s best acting in recent memory, and it’s not even the best one in the movie.
More information about The Substance on Fandango
Perhaps the use of Bernard Herrmann’s “Vertigo” theme feels too on the nose, but it fits thematically in the story and its obsessive mood. The timing is also strategic, as October’s Halloween season increases The Substance’s relevance, which may encourage genre fans to see it. This could further widen the film’s reach, potentially increasing its cultural impact and long-term viewership. Furthermore, a wider streaming debut could further amplify Demi Moore’s comeback narrative, after her performance in the film already earned her her first Oscar nomination. She attempts to create a new version of herself using the leftover serum, despite the single-use warning.
Our Take On The Substance’s Streaming Release
Motivated by societal pressures on women’s bodies and aging, Fargeat wrote the screenplay in two years, assembling a production team spanning France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Principal photography began in France in August 2022 and concluded in October, lasting 108 days. It extensively used prosthetic makeup and other practical effects, including suits, puppetry, dummies, insert shots, and approximately 21,000 liters (5,500 U.S. gallons) of fake blood to portray Elisabeth’s substance use disorder treatment drug-induced transformation.
Design and effects
Elisabeth’s original face detaches from the gore, crawling onto her neglected star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She smiles as she hallucinates being admired before melting into a puddle of blood, which is cleaned up by a floor scrubber the next day. On her 50th birthday, now-faded Hollywood film star Elisabeth Sparkle is dismissed from her long-running aerobics TV show by its producer, Harvey, due to her age.
The film also performed well during award season, with Fargeat earning five Oscar nominations, including Best Directing, Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture as one of the film’s producers, while Moore was nominated for Best Actress. Demi Moore’s award-winning and critically acclaimed film «The Substance» is set to arrive on HBO Max soon. You can get tickets to see The Substance in theaters in the United States right now.
Streaming details for The Substance on MUBI
Originally set to be distributed by Universal Pictures, studio executives demanded changes to the film, but Fargeat refused as it would go against her contractual final cut privilege. Universal broke off their distribution deal with Fargeat and the rights were acquired by Mubi. “The Substance” works as well as it does because of Moore’s unbridled performance as a woman struggling with self-hatred, society’s treatment of her, and a newfound dependency on a miracle drug. In one particularly heartbreaking scene, Elizabeth stands in front of a mirror, fussing over the final details of her makeup and outfit. Although she looks glamorous as anyone could hope to look, her face betrays a dissatisfied stare as she sees more flaws than beauty before her.
To stop Sue aging her further, Elisabeth orders a serum designed to terminate her. However, Elisabeth, still craving Sue’s celebrity status, stops before fully injecting the serum and resuscitates Sue, leaving both of them conscious. Realizing Elisabeth’s initial intent, Sue beats Elisabeth to death before leaving to host the New Year’s show. As Sue, Qualley is reimagined into the sexpot-next-door with an idealized hot body who has a fondness for neon workout clothes, lip gloss, big earrings, and boys. As far as mustache-twirling villains go, Quaid may not have the facial hair, but he has a maniacal laugh and heartless persona to match Harvey’s ostentatious suits. He looks to be having a field day behaving badly as the personification of the cruelty women experience in the industry.
Elisabeth crashes her car while distracted by a billboard of herself being taken down. At the hospital, a young male nurse gives her a flash drive advertising «The Substance», a black market drug that promises a «younger, more beautiful, more perfect» version of oneself. Sophie is a poet, screenwriter, and Senior Writer, who has been writing for ScreenRant since 2024. With a Master’s in Creative Writing, a sharp voice and a passion for underrepresented stories, Sophie brings authenticity and insight to every project. Whether writing poetry and scripts in her spare time or news articles, her work is crafted with care, clarity, and a deep understanding of what connects with audiences. While it may not suit everyone’s stomach, those with an appetite for the grotesque will succumb to Demi Moore’s Kafka-esque performance and feast on the bodily horrors of The Substance.
