‘The Substance’: A Grotesque Dorian Gray Tale on Bloody Bath Salts

“There are only three ages for women Hollywood,” Elise Elliot bemoans in the beginning of 1996’s The First Wives Club as she begs her doctor for more plastic surgery. “Babe. District Attorney. And Driving Miss Daisy. I want to be young. Science fiction young. Be careful what you wish for, Miss Elliot!

When I attended the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month, the only ticket that I couldn’t snag was to the Midnight Madness screening of Coralie Fargeat’s absolutely gonzo, over-the-top, squeazy film, The Substance. When friends told me about the screening (complete with an appearance of Demi Moore herself) the next day, they all said the same thing: “You’re not ready.” When you hear this at a festival, you take it with a grain of salt because you are usually seeing a world premiere or there is a high of being the first audience to see something, but make no mistake…Fargeat’s film is an orgy of extravagent bloodiness with a performance for the ages from Demi Moore. The Substance is an ooey, goopy blast of adrenaline.

I wonder if Demi Moore’s Elisabeth Sparkle feels the same way that Elise Elliot does. A formerly respected actress–an award-winner, no less–Elisabeth has made a name for herself by marketing fitness programming on television, and being the host of her own show is the only time that people give her any flattering consideration. People look sideways at Elisabeth all throughout Fargeat’s film, and the men are shot in a completely different way. When Elisabeth ducks into the men’s room to change after a shoot, Dennis Quaid’s Harvey (did you shudder when you heard that name…), an executive, uses the urinal while on his phone. The camera is up against his neck as he barks misogynistic jokes into his phone not knowing that Elisabeth can hear him. He wants someone younger and hotter to replace her, but men like Harvey are not expected to look or act a certain way to earn the tiniest bit of respect.

When Elisabeth hears about The Substance, she orders it after some hesitation, but she is intrigued by its sleek offer. If you ever thought about how your body “used to look,” you might find yourself wondering if you could order some for yourself–just to try it out, of course. After it’s activated, a newer, younger version of yourself lives for a week before you switch back. You take turns living this double existence with balance, with order. You are not separate people but an extension of yourself living the life you always wanted. Sounds easy enough, right?

Elisabeth transforms herself into the form of Margaret Qualley’s Sue, a nubile, bright-eyed vixen set on conquering the world. Elisabeth’s fitness program is scrapped to make way for Sue’s Pump It Up, a bouncier workout show with a shiny, spare stage and slow motion. Oh, so much slow motion. The cameras–both helmed by Fargeat and the producers of Pump It Up–find every curve of Sue’s body. Every line. Qualley stares into the camera and you become transfixed. She even coos her own name as if her pink, glossy lips are an obstacle for the sound to come out. Sue wields her power without abandon…what could go wrong?

When the rules of The Substance are knocked off kilter, it’s not long before the irreversible and ugly side effects come into play. It’s not long before The Substance transforms into a battle of wills between two women whose ambitions are coming from completely opposite ends of the spectrum.

Demi Moore has always carried with her an instinctive intersection between toughness and sexual bravado. The Substance is a reflective experience for Elisabeth as we encounter how much she sees herself: she spies herself in mirror, shiny doorknobs, a camera’s lens and even in the Dorian Gray-esque portrait that hangs in her apartment. That physical ideal looms over Elisabeth every time she wanders through her own space. Audiences and the media have always placed an importance on Moore’s physicality whether it be in roles like G.I. Jane, Striptease, Disclosure, and Indecent Proposal or like when she posed nude and gorgeously pregnant on the cover of Vanity Fair. For The Substance, Moore is ravenous, tearing into the body horror in the second half of the film but never letting us forget what this character has put on the line or sacrificed. Moore’s husky voice has a tenuous tremor before it becomes a mighty scream. Qualley unleashes everything she has into this role as Sue gains more and more control.

Fargeat is fearless in showing how we will do anything for control. The Substance leaps off the rails before bouncing back onto the track over and over again. Her positioning of the camera is always alternating between being invasive, voyeuristic and horny for blood and pushes every bloody sequence to the limit. There is a sequence in the finale that makes Carrie look like a christening. Just when you think the film is done, it ramps back up as is dissects how one woman has felt seen and wanted her entire life and now she has to contend with the darkest parts of herself. The Substance is a truly deranged, cinematic high. And you will beg for another dose.

The Substance is in theaters now.