[music: “Pump It Up” by Endor]
Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself? I sure have. But, as “The Substance” teaches us—be careful what you wish for.
In the Coralie Fargeat written and directed film, Demi Moore plays an aging celebrity who, after losing her longtime television gig, turns to a black market drug that creates a much younger version of herself, played by Margaret Qualley. Things go awry, however, after Moore’s counterpart begins to fly too close to the sun, ignoring the stipulations that come with the mysterious substance.
Despite being a blood-curdling masterpiece of body horror, “The Substance” is an all-around mother show. Moore and Qualley both offer first-rate performances, demonstrating complete control over their respective characters. Not only are the performances great, but the script as well, with the film winning Best Screenplay at this past year’s Cannes Film Festival.
To dive deeper into the film, I sat down with my friend Luis Castañeda after watching it to better collect our thoughts, our interpretations, and figure out what we ended up taking away from “The Substance.”
LUIS CASTAÑEDA: I went into “The Substance” knowing that a lot of the queer people online, like on Twitter, Instagram, were obsessed with it. And it had good reviews also, and I think it was nominated for an award, or it won an award. And I was like, okay, the “Joker” is flopping, this other “Megalopolis” or whatever, I can’t even remember what it’s called because that was also flopping.
Because of the lack of good movie options, Castañeda and I eventually settled on the horror flick.
CASTAÑEDA: We need to see a good movie. And I went into it excited, and surely enough, my hopes were not let down. It was a fantastic movie, it was funny, surprisingly, but also kind of scary in the right type of sense. And I loved it.
Though the film did contain many comedic elements, I was curious about what Castañeda thought about its status as a horror movie.
CASTAÑEDA: I find it horrifying because I deal with my own fears of growing old, of my body not being perceived in the same way as I grow older, and fears that my career is based on how I look, so in that way I saw the movie and I saw myself, and to me that’s the horror that speaks out more than any jumpscare could ever.
Much of the film focuses on how unrealistic beauty standards reverberate throughout the entertainment industry. Thinking about what the movie had to say, I asked Castañeda what he took away from the story.
CASTAÑEDA: I think especially for women in these industries, there’s kind of this standard of the male perspective that they need to always abide by because most of the people in charge right of almost any industry is going to be a man, and usually the products for the entertainment industry are beautiful women, and when they’re no longer perceived as beautiful, there’s no consumeristic value in it.
When I asked Castañeda whether he would ever take the substance, his answer was one rooted in anxiety.
CASTAÑEDA: That’s a really scary question because I feel like in 50 years we might be able to actually take the substance. I want to be a broadcast journalist, and that means I’ve had a conversation with a professor one time where I asked how important, you know, beauty is in getting a job in broadcast and he full on told me like yeah, it’s true, I think people do care about how people look, especially if they’re on TV.
If a mother takes the substance, and no one is around to see it, does she still slay? In “The Substance,” Fargeat offers a cautionary tale, combatting unrealistic beauty standards in the most gut-wrenching, but equally effective, way possible. Sure, you can try as hard as you want to slow the inevitable forces of aging, but always remember: you are one.
For WNUR News, I’m Bazil Frueh.
[music: “The Substance” by Raffertie]
