The Substance

beauty, goes down a dark path in pursuit of a "better" version of herself. The story is also a sharp critique of power dynamics, with white men controlling who's in front of the spotlight, while women are pitted against one another for validation. The film's production is equally impressive, especially the makeup and prosthetic work that elevates its body horror elements. While the first half of the movie is more subdued, the gore ramps up significantly as the plot unfolds, culminating in a chaotic "fourth act" that will leave audiences bewildered. The fast-paced editing, paired with an impactful score, heightens the tension and surrealism of the narrative. Though there's a part of me who prefers a version of the film that ends before the wild final act, the overall experience is an unforgettable, audacious exploration of vanity, control, and desperation in the entertainment world. Rating: B+

lay prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. To call the film ‘bold’ is a weapons-grade understatement. It’s an audacious, jaw-dropping examination of what screens & billboards demand of women (especially as they age), and how laughably impossible it is to meet those demands. Well, if you didn’t laugh, you’d cry. After watching THE SUBSTANCE, you might do both. Here's our deep dive for good.film: https://good.film/guide/holy-sh-t-the-substance-is-a-weapons-grade-takedown-of-the-male-gaze

eks to revive her career by retrieving some of her lost youth with the aid of an enigmatic injectable follows her grand misadventures when the mysterious substance prompts the emergence of a younger doppelganger (Margaret Qualley), who becomes a Hollywood sex kitten sensation virtually overnight. To make this experimental venture work, however, the two individuals must follow a complex set of rules, dictates that become increasingly difficult to follow as they each vie for their respective shares of attention. And, as this scenario unfolds, tension grows between them, leading to complications and unexpected developments that become progressively harder to manage. But that’s where what works in the film ends. As the story plays out from there, it becomes stupendously absurd, and, even though there are some hearty laughs in this, there are even more ridiculously implausible and unexplained occurrences that try audience members’ patience and tolerance, so much so that I couldn’t wait for this trainwreck to end. In addition to the foregoing shortcomings, the film includes myriad changes in tone, making it difficult to determine whether this is supposed to be a serious thriller or a campy road, very much in the same way as in the incomprehensible French offering “Titane” (2021). It also shamelessly “borrows” elements from other movies in various ways, most notably imagery and narrative references from “The Shining” (1980) and “Young Frankenstein” (1974), costume designs from the “Hunger Games” franchise, and bafflingly inexplicable soundtrack excerpts from films like “Vertigo” (1958). Then there’s the picture’s obvious, heavy-handed message about the perils of misogyny, observations that, as important as they are, could easily stood to have been turned down more than a few notches (yes, we get it already). At the same time, though, there are also some fundamentally innate questions about the narrative that go wholly unanswered, leaving us with numerous head-scratching moments. Sadly, these failings detract significantly from the elements that do work (at least early on in the film), such as the fine performances of Moore and Qualley, the picture’s inventive cinematography, and a central premise that could have made for an engaging story if handled with greater finesse. But these strengths are effectively cancelled by what ultimately results when this release goes off the rails. Indeed, how “The Substance” captured the 2024 Cannes Film Festival award for best screenplay is truly mind boggling. I’m certainly a fan of the weird, wild and wacky, but this release undermines the virtues of those cherished qualities. Regrettably, I was seriously looking forward to seeing this offering, and I was decidedly impressed by what I saw in its opening acts, but that was all wiped out by how this one ultimately played out, a picture that, in the end, ironically relied more on style than “substance.”