A movie directed by Coralie Fargeat, who to be honest I have no clue, first time for me but from the trailer the movie has the potential to be very unique both in the acting and direction, it seem to capture quite a few interesting angles with zoom to the characters. The story is about characters who finde themselves in a pursuit of youth and fame in the world of celebrities and the price they have to pay for it, we humans sometimes do what ever it takes just for vanity. In this kinda bizzare movie we find stars like Demi Moore, a washed up aerobics type of video vixen who hosts a show about fitness, playin the role of Elizabeth Sparkle who needs to hear others aclaim her and this is what drives her to look for a secret method called The Substance, where the name of the movie comes in. The hole story about this substance is very simple, a fiction story based on no facts just to create this enviroment of full dopamine dose, every time Elizabeth injects herself with the substance it activates the growth of a younger and better version of her. You might think that it makes her younger but nop, it actually creates a physical alter ego called Sue who Elizabeth have to switch places every time Sue comes in, this second character is played by Margaret Qualley.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17526714/
- Platform: Theaters
- Release: September 20, 2024
Film Plot
A Desperate Pursuit of Youth
The movie develops around the life of Elizabeth Sparkle, a celebrity who is getting older and is slowly fading away from the spot light as all the production companies trim down their aged celebrities in order to sell the youth icon, Elizabeth finds out about a secret program that can make her young again. Almost without hope and about to lose her career and beauty Elizabeth goes for the treatment, which is the creation of the younger version of herself. The process involves Elizabeth and her younger self to swap every week via blood transfusion; one character gets to live Elizabeth’s life while the other is on a coma at home, fed through a weekly blood infusion, isn't that fucked up already?.The theme and commentary part of this movie will be all about questions of identity and self worth, since Elizabeth's younger version takes over her role on the fitness show, its not seen during the trailer but it has been commented that the movie in fact does show the transformation effects, I wonder how bad she would look that might make the audience reflect on their own point of view towards youth and beauty, kinda similar scenario on GOT with Melisandre for those who watch the show. On the trailer I could notice that there is also a psychological aspect to this transformation when things start to go south, when the treatment stops having the desire effect, Elizabeth starts to go full blown mad, showing once against the struggles of fighting back aging and everything that comes with it, all to keep a certain status at the public eye, making women full of insecurity and self doubt, reflects the feeling of getting older and the anxiety that comes with it and saying so many goodbyes in life.
Cast Through The Roof
Demi Moore as Elizabeth Sparkle
The main character is Elizabeth Sparkle played by Demi Moore; it is been said that Moore has given the performance of her life in this film, this film already has a ton of comments online, Moore has received praises for her performance saying it is her best since the eighties. Her readiness for such a daring and challenging role indicates passion to acting, Moore’s approach to Elizabeth might even be very natural considering she might be on a similar position, she uses her experience in fame to make her character more believable.
During the movie Moore changes her looks in every way possible to describe the changes that the character goes through and her acting of Elizabeth’s internal war against time and her value as a woman would be her best tool in describing the pressure that women in the film industry go through, does sound like a performance very realistic and powerful one, she is a desperate woman who is ready to fight both the time and society.
Margaret Qualley as Sue
Sue is the younger version of Elizabeth created by The Substance, character played by Margaret Qualley, despite the fact that she has been in the industry for only a few years, Qualley gives a good performance against such seasoned actors as Moore and Dennis Quaid, within the movie she is the youthful spirit and that is a stark difference from Moore who plays the older Elizabeth.
Qualley’s performance lift up the film approach to the issue of identity where the protagonist is both Elizabeth and not Elizabeth at the same time, her scenes with Moore are very painful as the clash of the woman against herself reflects the conflict that many female characters experience when they reach a certain age in a world that does not appreciate aging.
Dennis Quaid as Harvey
Dennis Quaid takes up the character of Harvey, a stereo typically patriarchal TV network executive that in my opinion is no challenge for Quaid as we have seen him play this type of charters before, he becomes quite useful because of the actor’s flexibility and his experience with both comedy and drama. The development of his character takes the film into another dimension with issues of ageism and sexism especially towards women in the entertainment industry. Quaid performance was extraordinary especially because he has replaced Ray Liotta who passed away before the shooting had started, Liotta was originally cast for the role and Quaid dedicated the role to Ray.
The Director's Vision
Coralie Fargeat who came into the spot light with her feature film Revenge delivers an audacious take on the topic in this project that has been acclaimed for both its horror angle and its feminist point of view, not to get confuse with the nonsense we see on the internet rather a more balance and real approach. Fargeat takes references from films such as The Picture of Dorian Gray or The Shining or even The Fly and from here develop a visual style adapted to represent the movie.Fargeat’s vision called for a lot of practical effects and makeup to make look as real as possible the brutal metamorphosis of the film and characters, the makeup department has done such a great job to the point some critics have mention the possibilities of an Oscar nomination for makeup and hair styling, she have also been praise for the way of using female nudity during the film where the safety of female actors was a top priority, nudity used purely in terms of artistic freedom to raise the level of the film.
Controversy
The film has caused controversy and discussion within viewers and critics who have mention that the body horror elements are over exaggerated and could be considered as objectification of women body, to me sounds like a lot of bs as this is a movie for adults who should have their own opinions of women and not take them from a movie design to entertain. This is the type of movie where you will find all kind of critics trying to sink it as it does touch certain topics of age and fame that often women in the industry fight back but what if it would be the other way, what if it would be the same movie but from a male perspective? or what if it would be a movie from a transgender point of view? its just the world we living in where people get trigger every time there is content created that touch on their pressure points.
The movie touch themes as the corrupt side of Hollywood and the expectations of women to look young and beautiful has brought many positive reviews, although some people found it as a strong critique of Hollywood’s treatment of older actresses while others noticed the movie’s message on the unreachable beauty standards, stay beautiful for ever.
The movie as mention touch on certain topics like aging, identity and social expectations, that are so relevant to many people. Although others might think its not every effective I doubt the creation of this movie is to start any kind of movement towards this topics, as always people ask too much from the entertaining industry that is not to educate, education and values come from home not even from schools, there for this is just another film that wanted to touch on certain topics from the industry that have been there for ages and will continue to be there without much change because they are purely based on vanity and greed. Im sure this will be a movie many wont forget from 2024 and Im actually eager to watch it to figure out if it really is that great.
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