The Substance is a movie from writer-director Coralie Fargeat. Demi Moore stars as faded star Elisabeth Sparkle, who has been forced out of the movie business, and now even out of her long-running aerobics television show. She's feeling the full weight of her age, but is given a possible solution when she hears about "the substance," a series of injections that promises her a younger, more beautiful version of herself.
I had previously heard about this movie's unsubtle-but-apt critique of Hollywood's treatment of older women. I think I expected some sort of Jekyll and Hyde type of story. Instead, I found myself watching one of the most powerfully gory, graphic body horror films to hit the mainstream in the past several years.
The Substance has its supporters, including inside the Academy, which bestowed five Oscar nominations on it -- including Best Picture. In one way, it's not a surprise; you'll never lose money betting that Hollywood will shower awards on movies about Hollywood, even when they take the form of a scathing critique. But let's put a pin in that for the moment.
I found The Substance to be a movie that starts out strong before rapidly falling apart. Initially, it's crystal clear in what it wants to say about women and aging. "Look what disgusting men have driven this woman to do!" it screams (effectively) with every scene. With an egregiously lascivious camera, the movie trumpets its feminism by becoming a parody of the male gaze.
And then I feel like the movie forgets everything but shock and gore. The Substance is Severance by way of David Cronenberg, but missing any of the thought-provoking analysis of identity. The movie sets forth "horror movie rules" it almost immediately breaks. It fails to answer the fundamental question of what the main character is getting out of any of this -- why does she keep this story going? And the clarity of message from the opening act becomes hopelessly muddied. Is the message that young people are selfish? That people change to such an extent that they'll always hate themselves?
Or maybe this is all just about pure shock, plain and simple. As you watch The Substance, you'll think you've seen the most "over the top" thing it will serve up perhaps a dozen times. But it always tops itself after that, parading one depraved visual after another. If body horror is a subgenre of horror you especially enjoy, then you'll probably love this movie: its practical effects, grotesque makeup, and oceans of blood. You'll never forget its ending.
But I think you will almost forget any coherent message it might have started out with. I give The Substance a D+. Anyone inclined to like it will surely find their way to it without me; I would caution everyone else to stay away.
However, I did say at the beginning that I appreciated the movie. This is a horror movie. Not a prestige, The Sixth Sense kind of tale that's really a suspense movie. This is the goriest of the gory... and it was nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture. It's never going to win, of course, but it shouldn't be possible for a movie like this to even be nominated. The fact that it was feels like a sign that in the future, there might no longer be such a thing as an "Oscar movie." If this can be a Best Picture contender, then it feels like truly any movie could be. I say that genuinely, not to be snide. And I think it's great thing for the movie industry.
Here's the part that's maybe a little snide: I think with this nomination, the Academy has abdicated its position to tell you what kind of movies are "good for you." I think I've allowed the Oscars to swoop in at the end of the year to tell me "you've been eating a bit too much junk food; you ought to have a salad or two." And while I have found more heady movies I have enjoyed thanks to Oscar nods, I've also subjected myself to movies I found deeply boring, overhyped for a single reason (usually a strong performance), or total head-scratchers. I've increasingly wanted to break free of the mindset that compelled me to do that. The Substance was part of a one-two punch of movie viewing this past weekend that might have finally done the trick.
The night before I went to see The Substance, I watched a 2024 movie at home and loved it. It's nominated for nothing, despite being about an "important topic" that Hollywood should support, and no one has said a word about it being snubbed. (And I will get to writing about that movie later this week.) If that movie, that made me feel more deeply than anything else I've seen in the past year, is not an Oscar movie, but The Substance is? Maybe I don't need "Oscar" to tell me what's good for me anymore.
No comments:
Post a Comment