In the opening scene of THE SUBSTANCE, a new star is being laid on Hollywood Boulevard. It’s for film star Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore). Years later she’s a TV icon with her own aerobics show. Already on the decline, her star is about to burn out for good, as her sleazy manager Harvey (Dennis Quaid) unmistakably makes it clear to her. At 50, she’s too old. Her show is cancelled and her position is advertised via a casting call. In this fragile state, she receives a dubious offer: the youth agent “The Substance“ will enable her to clone a perfect, younger double (Margaret Qualley). She calls it Sue and takes her alter ego to the casting call. It’s the beginning of a meteoric career. The catch: Sue and Elisabeth have to switch roles every seven days, but Sue wants more time in the limelight.

THE SUBSTANCE tells a contemporary and very amusing variation of Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray“ in a quick and dazzling way. Every minute that Sue additionally takes can be seen in Elisabeth’s increasing decay. Director Coralie Fargeat and cinematographer Benjamin Kracun are merciless, and Demi Moore bravely joins in. Every wrinkle can be seen close-up, and an age spot on a previously flawless hand can easily compete with Carpenter's "Thing" in terms of horror and disgust. Sue and Elisabeth are both rivals and the same person, and so, in keeping with the theme, THE SUBSTANCE races towards a splatter orgy of self-destruction. THE SUBSTANCE, at least at first glance, is more surface than substance. The design and decor are a dream – from Elisabeth’s panorama window in the bedroom to her summer yellow coat and the packaging of the clone device which, with its sans serif capital letters, is reminiscent of the less-is-more hipster layout of the world-saving tech bubble, and with its brevity of instructions, of IKEA assembly instructions. The ageing and the firm young body are constantly on display, along with numerous film quotes, from the hotel carpet in THE SHINING, the mutations in SOCIETY, and the artistic blood shower in CARRIE.

There’s method in the harshness. THE SUBSTANCE switches between existential horror and monstrous ridiculousness. On one hand, Coralie Fargeat reflects the severity with which female bodies are viewed from the outside but also dissected from the inside. Transience is no child's play. On the other hand, the obsession with beauty is as hopeless as it is silly, and can only really be endured with self-irony.

Hendrike Bake (INDIEKINO MAGAZIN)

Translation: Elinor Lewy