The Substance (Movie Review): A Violent, Romantic, and Artistic Tale of Beauty
The Substance is a horror and science fiction movie brought up on screen just recently in September-October of 2024. As said in the official trailer, the entire movie can be summarized in a few sentences:
“Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself? You. Only better in every way. You’ve got to try this new product. It changed my life.”
Without further ado, we’ll get into the movie review… (Spoiler Alert! If you haven’t seen the movie and wish to reserve the first-time experience for yourself, please come back to this article after you’ve seen the movie. This review contains some spoilers that may affect your movie-watching experience…)
Elizabeth Sparkle, a once-famous world celebrity, is now officially 50 years old. When one gets older, as we all know, it is quite inevitable that time leaves its permanent marks on their body. Yet unfortunately for Elizabeth, these marks left by her age—wrinkles on her face and her fleeting youth—are absolutely unacceptable. She loses her job on daytime show TV right on her 50th birthday because, as her boss blatantly revealed to her, “people are always searching for something new.”
Elizabeth is to be replaced by someone younger, hotter, and prettier.
Desperate to hear the news, Elizabeth uncontrollably activated her “other self” with the help of an unknown product, simply and mysteriously named, “The Substance.” Consequently, Sue is born. Sue is basically the manifestation of all Elizabeth’s imagination of a “better self”: she received the opportunity to replace her despite fierce competition in the audition, and Elizabeth’s old boss even decided to let her host the annual New Year event. Yet as both Sue and Elizabeth indulged in feelings of contentment because of fame, popularity, and public attention, what they are not yet taking notice of… is the unspoken and pricey cost behind the rejuvenating youth.
The Substance is, to say at least, a violent, bloody, Frankenstein-y, yet irresistibly aesthetic piece of art. The process through which Sue grows and divides out of Elizabeth and eventually tears her host open from the spine is truly a gruelling scene. Yet it is exactly through such visual shocks that the violent consequences behind regaining youth and beauty are delivered. At the end of the movie, we see Elizabeth, transformed into a total Frankenstein monster because of her obsession with fame and attractiveness, lying down on the star that was carved with her name, “Elizabeth Sparkle,” on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The movie starts there, at the exact same spot—from building this star solely belonged to Elizabeth. Both the beginning and the end of the journey is this Walk of Fame, which is what seems to be the stamp that proves the rising success of Elizabeth’s celebrity career. Yet who knows? Such success may bring the blessing of popularity—and the curse of lifelong mania of fame.
Source:
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-substance-movie-review