The buzz coming out of Cannes for this was insane, and had me immediately hyped for it. A Hollywood-set body horror from the director of Revenge? Yes please. Coralie Fargeat's debut toes that delicate line between horror and thriller, but has some brutal moments that had me eager to see her dive fully into the genre. While the end result isn't something necessarily scary, it stands out as easily the best body horror film in recent years, and is somehow even crazier than I had anticipated.
The film follows Elizabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore), a fading Hollywood star beginning to be cast aside as she is fired from her longstanding role on a daytime fitness show. Crushed by her being pushed out of the spotlight, Elizabeth partakes in an experimental drug called "The Substance" which promises to use your cells to create a better you. This allows her to birth a new younger version of herself she names Sue (Margaret Qualley) and is told she must split her time in half with, seven days as each at a time. This allows her to re-enter the spotlight as her new self, but this binary is not without some wild consequences.
If you want a simple metric for how wild this movie gets, the guy sitting to the right of me muttered "Jesus" out loud at least six times, only for the guy to my left to do the same thing. I watch a lot of horror so it isn't often that something gets to me, but this thing can get gross in the best way. I almost sold my TIFF ticket since the movie is coming out next weekend, but I'm so glad I didn't because a packed theatre full of people squirming and wincing is the absolute best way to take this in.
This all around attack on the sense from Fargeat is a fascinating look at beauty standards, both externally and internally. On one hand you have Elizabeth, growing to become self-loathing and desperate to regain her youth, and on the other you have Sue, the self-obsessed side of the coin willing to do anything to keep her beauty. Despite looking like Demi Moore who is aging like a fine wine, Elizabeth is told she's too old by some gross male executive types, leading to this crumbling of self image. Moore is genuinely phenomenal here, giving a performances that teeters on heartbreaking and unhinged. Now over sixty herself, this feels like a very brave performance, tackling ideas that I'm sure have gotten to her as she has left that young point of her career and brazing all of herself to the camera in multiple scenes. She kills it though, the envy she holds against her "better self" is fascinatingly performed, and the sadness that comes from her insecurity is damn near haunting throughout.
On the other side of the coin is Margaret Qualley, giving one of the most confident performances I've seen this year. Reinvigorated with youth and energy, this side of the character is vain and self-absorbed, and Qualley truly commands the screen with her brash confidence. Similar to Moore, her performance features a fair deal of nudity, but she never looks uncomfortable throughout the performance, truly just oozing self-worth in an exciting way. When things go awry, it is a lot of fun to see her try to hold on with all she can to this higher version of herself, not willing to give up this new lease on the life her older self had already gotten to enjoy.
Coralie Fargeat is a superstar behind the camera though. It's comforting to know this was made by a female filmmaker, as it becomes clear that she is critiquing the male gaze and objectification of women through the nude scenes and scenes of the fitness show rather than all the nudity just being there to appease viewers. It's clear both Moore and Qualley are comfortable with Fargeat and that allows their performances to shine. Fargeat's vision here is also wildly bold, this is a cool concept elevated by some audacious style. The set design is really neat, but it's elevated by some wild cinematography that one moment has you pulling back until the scene isn't even visible anymore only to have another where a fishbowl lens is right up in Dennis Quaid's face. The visual style through both the colourful set and wild cinematography gets a kinetic energy to it thanks to the editing and music/sound design, all working in unison to create something that feels almost like a futuristic rave at times. All of these elements though pale in comparison to the hair and makeup, which I would argue at this point should be the winner at the Academy Awards. Body horror only ever works when you have terrific makeup effects and these are incredible, almost sneaking up on you with how great they end up getting.
I'm sure there are issues somewhere in this film, but I was so distracted by the vibrancy of Fargeat's direction and the two unreal performances. This movie is insane, even if you go in expecting it to be wild it'll surprise you, but that's what I loved most. Incredible work from the stars, incredible work from all the crafts, I'm hooked. I'll be trying and probably failing to get everyone I know to watch this just so I can see what they think, but I will say if you have trouble watching movies with: graphic nudity, gore, blood, flashing lights, Margaret Qualley's butt, or Dennis Quaid, maybe this one isn't for you. 4.5/5
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