The Substance Review – A Shocking, Electrifying Jolt of Injected Adrenaline, A Must See

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Category: Film

Published on Friday, 14 February 2025 11:23

Written by Janet Walker

The Substance, from Working Title Pictures and Amazon Prime, presents a sci-fi horror film as an aging celebrity is offered a black-market resuscitation drug that will restore her to a younger, more vibrant, version of herself.

The film begins on Hollywood Boulevard on the star of Elizabeth Sparkle, and through time, we see the star on the sidewalk cracking, with less fans taking a picture, and suddenly, we see a passerby dropping a splat of a sloppy sandwich. The montage depicts the life of a celebrity, who fades and cracks overtime, until what was once a brilliant light has now dimmed into obscurity.

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Next, we meet Elizabeth, played by Demi Moore, the star of Sparkle Your Life aerobics show. Once the taping is finished, she leaves the studio and enters the long hallway where floor to ceiling pictures line the walls highlighting Elizabeths career. It is her birthday, and she is congratulated by every passerby.

The women's restroom is out of order, so she ducks into the men's room. As she is the stall, her boss, Harvey, played by Dennis Quaid, and begins to disparage her, without knowing she is hearing him. He maligns her age, typical agism remarks, washed up, over the hill, an award winner in the dark ages, and is screaming he wants a younger, more supple, more beautiful, more vibrant, female to lead the show and Elizabeth is fired.

Overhearing his intention makes it easier when he terminates her. The restaurant scene is sloppy, as an unrefined Harvey shakes his little prawn at her, dipping it into the sauce, before smacking his lips around it, explaining the network needs younger and leaves behind a soiled mess.

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With her box of personals, Elizabeth is driving down a street when she sees her picture on a billboard being removed, and just as the images falls to the ground, she is t-boned by an oncoming vehicle. She ends up in the hospital and by some miracle she is fine.

An extraordinarily handsome male nurse, played by Robin Greer, explains as she is leaving if she is looking for something that will help her to use this number and hands her a business card.

Fo the first time, in some time, Elizabeth has no obligations. As a now fading celebrity, depression begins to set in, and the idea of restoring vibrancy seeps into her mind, slowly convincing her to consider this unknown drug.

She calls and places an order. Even after she receives the drug is hesitant and then she finally just follows the process. We see the transformation process, and slowly the cellular replication process begins, we see Elizabeth's spine begin to split, and then she births her vibrant younger self, and we meet Sue, played by Margaret Qualley.  And the competition begins.

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The drug allows for one week on, one week off, for each of the women. Sue decides she is more deserving of her new life and after a few months of honoring the rules, she decides to stay just a little longer, and fails to follow protocols. We see the side effects of failing to follow protocols is a rapid advancement of the aging process, and now Elizabeth, due to Sue's failure, finds there is no reversal of the side effects.

As Hollywood is now her oyster and Elizabeth's old boss Harvey is now her boss and is enamored and as the rating of her show, Pump it Up, have spiked through the roof, he is willing to give her anything she desires. And now what she desires, more than anything, is to be rid of her host.

The Substance is a shocking electrifying jolt of injected adrenaline.

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Demi Moore gives a career best performance, and Margaret Qualley is brilliant. Even as the film has been the darling of Awards Season, we haven't heard in detail the film's director Coralie Fargeat, explain the elements of nudity.

Both Ms. Moore and Ms. Qualley appear nude frequently, and while many believe the courage to appear nude on screen is a sure-fire awards making role, the women, each, did not depend on the nudity, they both delivered strong, dynamic performances, capturing with authenticity the genuineness of life in Hollywood, the aging celebrity, and the youth fascination. Dennis Quaid also gives a memorable performance as the network executive infatuated with youth and ratings.

The screenplay is well-written and turbocharges the indictment that Hollywood severs women of a certain age, in search of the fountain of youth.

Riveting, The Substance is a gripping, explosive, sci-fi mind-blowing experience. A must see.

The Substance has impressed critics since its premiere, at the Cannes Film Festival, and has continued to receive nominations across all major awards granting organizations, including the Academy Awards, BAFTA, the Golden Globes, and producers Tim Bevan, Coralie Fargeat, and Eric Fellner, been nominated For Best Feature and Best Lead Performance for Demi Moore, at the Independent Spirit Awards.

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Country: U.S.

Language: English.

Runtime: 141 minutes.

Directed: Caralie Fargeat.

Producer: Tim Bevan, Coralie Fargeat, Eric Fellner.

Executive Producer: Alexandra Loewy, Nicolas Royer.

Cast: Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid, Edward Hamilton-Clark, Gore Abrams, Oscar Lesage, Christian Erickson, Robin Greer, Tom Morton, Hugo Diego Garcia, Daniel Knight, Jonathon Carley, Jiselle Henderkott, Akil Wingate, Billy Bentley, Vincent Colombe, Lennard Ridsdale, Jordan Ford Silver, Oscar Salem, Viviane Bossina, Matthew Luret. 

Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade.  A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays, "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She is completing the non-fiction narrative, "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," which is expected to be released in early 2025. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a former member of the International Federation of Journalists.