I am obsessed with my weight, aging, hair and wrinkled looks. I see my 75-year-old self in the mirror every morning, sometimes totally disgusted. I’m just being honest. I asked my best friend, Bill, if he did the same. “Oh yes,” he sadly confided. So, women aren’t the only ones. Getting older is hard. But it seems to me that celebrities like 62-year-old Demi Moore know all the tricks to remain unchanged, vibrant and beautiful.
So, it is ironic that Moore is the lead in a film, currently receiving so much attention, about a truly desperate reaction to aging. Was this a casting error? Was there no actress, perhaps the lovely Helen Mirren or talented Kathy Bates, who looks older and could credibly wish to look younger?
Furthermore, being that “The Substance” was entered in the Golden Globe Musical or Comedy Motion Picture category, it seems others are identifying this film differently. It is a horror film. As a matter of fact, it is promoted as a “body horror” genre. Perhaps the GG people need a new category, like the Golden Globe for Horror or Science Fiction Motion Picture.
“The Substance” is certainly not a musical, and thinking of it as a comedy seems heretical to me because this is a film about society’s tragic denigration of the aging woman. But in the Golden Globe’s defense (and possibly the Oscar’s as well), “The Substance” has been referenced as “part satire” for its “dark humor” (Forbes). Dark humor, further defined, is gallows or macabre humor but that is still a far stretch for this tough, garish, troubling film about a beautiful aging star who makes a tragically consequential bargain to give herself an injection and transfusion every other week in return for splitting in half into two people who are One.
Let me try again. In the beginning, the movie shows us an egg in a frying pan. Something happens with a hypodermic prick and the egg yolk splits into two yolks and two full eggs.
Then the story begins. Elisabeth Sparkle (Moore) is a 50-year-old TV exercise host who used to be a film star. She overhears her boss saying she’s too old now for the TV spot and that he’s going to get someone in her 20s to replace her.
The first problem is that even though Demi is 62, and even though she does an ultra-fabulous job acting, she does not look like an aging woman. Demi looks pristinely perfect. I kept looking for an eye line, a jowl, a sagging chin or neck – but she is perfect.
So, it was especially exasperating to see her boss, Harvey, played by a gross and grotesque Dennis Quaid, have professional dominion. While he messily slurps down greasy shrimp with his mouth drooling sauce and saliva, he explains to perfect-looking Moore that women of a certain age are no longer appealing.
“The Substance” did not make me feel good about myself. It’s a hard portrayal of women by French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat, who believes that women should be identified for what they have accomplished and what they think rather than what they look like. If that’s the case, make a movie about that. Celebrate Mother Theresa or Angela Merkel.
I’m still upset today, four weeks after viewing “The Substance.” After seeing this film, I’m more aware of my shortcomings. It did not build me up or enrage me at society. It tore me down. But maybe Fargeat, a beautiful 48-year-old filmmaker, wants us to be as enraged as she is – so things might change.
At this writing, “The Substance” has received 174 nominations and 55 wins, including five Oscar nods, for greatness in a variety of areas.
Fargeat’s startling writing, directing and producing make a giant statement about her own honed skill in the horror genre and Demi Moore is getting the professional attention she deserves. No matter how this affects you, “The Substance” will provoke a strong reaction that you’ll be analyzing for a while.
Credits
Writer/Director: Coralie Fargeat
Producers: Coralie Fargeat, Tim Bevan, and Eric Fellner
Cast: Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid
Cinematography: Benjamin Kračun
Editors: Coralie Fargeat, Jerome Eltabet, and Valentin Feron
Music: Raffertie
Released: Sept. 20, 2024
Official Website and how to see: https://mubi.com/en/substance
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