When I looked over the DVD section of my library, it occurred to me that I would soon begin my Halloween-y viewings. This appears to be the most esteemed horror of the past few years, even nominated for Academy Best Picture, so I went right for it. Not that the DVD offers much over streaming; the only extra is a one-minute "featurette" in which director Coralie Fargeat summarizes her feminist aims.
Oscar-winning former actress Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) has moved on to hosting an aerobics program, until producer Harvey (Dennis Quaid) dismisses her for turning 50. Then she gets stealthy word of an unnamed, clearly FDA-unapproved product that can make a more youthful clone of her. She goes for it, and her younger self (Margaret Qualley) gets the same job under the alias "Sue." She enjoys major success but has to keep switching her consciousness between bodies weekly, keeping the catatonic body on an IV. When she ignores the supplier's warnings, things go sideways on both sides....
This is one soft sci-fi, all right. No way could a body emerge from another of similar size and leave enough matter to keep both alive. Character behavior isn't all that realistic either: Nobody asks why Sue has no ID or whatnot. Given the exaggerated contrast in reactions to the young hottie and the alleged hag, the latter initially looking rather good for her age, I'm inclined to see the picture as satirical even if not funny.
We never learn who makes or distributes "the Substance." It could be all one guy. The voice over the phone is so consistent that I suspect AI, albeit blunter than usual (like everything else in the movie).
The presentation is very artistic, and not primarily in a beautiful way. Long before Elisabeth activates the Substance, Fargeat deliberately disturbs us with uneven pacing and what the TV Tropes Wiki calls "Gross-Up Close-Ups." Her style reminds me a bit of Darren Aronofsky and later David Cronenberg.
Philosophically, the story is most interesting in the way Elisabeth has trouble continuing to see "Sue" as herself. I'm not sure whether the two bodies share post-activation memories -- another user's eagerness to meet the next week suggests so -- but the rapidly aging Elisabeth treats herself with disrespect and "Sue" with envy, and the hostility becomes, shall we say, mutual. Her correspondent tells her many times (a lot gets repeated herein, presumably for distractible viewers), "Remember you are one," but it doesn't hold. She seriously considers terminating the setup, by a supplied means that looks like murder to any outsider.
I wasn't scared so much as sympathetic. After all, in the unlikely event that I'd ever use the Substance, I'd follow all guidelines, however brusque. I did wince at a number of painful-looking moments, and I wouldn't have blamed Elisabeth for committing suicide.
I was tentatively ready to call this a great film until the last few minutes. Fargeat didn't know when to stop. I wanted to believe that I was seeing one of Elisabeth's several apparent nightmares/hallucinations, but no. The ending ups the ante on surrealism all around and establishes TS as a contender for the most revolting movie I've ever seen.
Much as I appreciate the concept and implied morals, I can't help thinking that another director would have done a better job. Perhaps it's just as well that I watched this at the start of the month; hopefully I'll find something I like better by Halloween.
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