The Substance 2024
written and directed by Coralie Fargeat
I feel I’m late to the party, but I finally got to see this today. Going in cold is my favourite way to see films, and against all odds, I managed to avoid any trailers and spoilers for this one. No mean feat for one of the most touted and talked about films of the year!
Written and directed by French filmmaker, Coralie Fargeat, (Revenge, 2017) The Substance is one helluva ride. By turns stark body horror, social commentary and darkly comedic, there are surreal elements here that reminded me of Yorgos Lanthimos and callbacks to Fargeat’s earlier French language short, Reality+ (2014). The cast are uniformly good but Demi Moore is utterly astonishing as Elisabeth Sparkle. It’s an incredibly brave performance and worth seeing just for Moore. Above all, I hope this heralds a resurgence in her career.
The use of extreme close-ups in some scenes are very effective and designed to disturb and even disgust. The cinematography, sound design and costuming are all gloriously technicolour and appropriately over the top. But while the film is good, it doesn’t reach greatness for me. There’s a lag in the last act which almost lost me but the ending is outrageously superb – particularly for horror fans.
There’s no subtlety about The Substance but it contains multiple little nods to other horror directors and films that pleased me greatly. It’s not necessary to understand them to enjoy the film but I hope younger horror fans will seek out the likes of Kubrick, Lynch and Cronenberg as a result of seeing this.
The Substance is currently in wide cinematic release globally and if you’re interested in Fargeat’s other work, both Reality+ and Revenge are currently playing on MUBI in Australia.
Debra Manskey 