A fading celebrity decides to use a black-market drug, a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself.A fading celebrity decides to use a black-market drug, a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself.A fading celebrity decides to use a black-market drug, a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself.
- Awards
- 3 wins & 3 nominations
Alexandra Papoulias Barton
- Encourager
- (as Alexandra Barton)
Yann Bean
- The Substance
- (voice)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaRay Liotta was cast in the film in February 2022. He died in May that year before he could film his scenes. Dennis Quaid replaced him as a result.
- GoofsThe coffee table reappears after being shattered in the fight sequence.
- Quotes
Elisabeth Sparkle: There's been a slight misuse of the Substance.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Project: Episode dated 20 September 2024 (2024)
- SoundtracksFade Away
performed by Pyrit
Featured review
"Be a better version of yourself"
The Substance is a film that tackles the phrase "be a better version of yourself" in an unprecedented way. Society deems aging unnatural, which is just a sliver of the full scope in the societal calendar of unreasonable expectations.
The film follows Elisabeth Sparkle, played by the wonderful Demi Moore, who succumbs to the pressure about losing her job to a younger and hotter person. She then takes "The Substance" which produces Sue, played by the talented Margaret Qualley, as a younger and hotter version of herself. This experiment conducted by Elisabeth starts a chain reaction of unfortunate events.
Regarding the patriarchal society we live in, females are mostly subjected to utmost scrutiny when it comes to age and beauty. This scrutiny leads to unhealthy decisions as showcased in this film.
I don't think age and beauty are inversely related. This reminds me of a pivotal scene from Greta Gerwig's Barbie, where Barbie tells an old woman she's beautiful, and her reply was "I know it". One doesn't necessarily lose beauty as aging occurs.
In Paul Downs acceptance speech for Hacks winning Best Comedy Series at this year's Emmys, he said they were skeptical about pitching a show about two women, where one is over 60 years. This dubitation stemmed from the narrative: "the public wants young and hot people on screen". They've successfully trumped that narrative with the shows ratings and accolades. He further stated that, people over 60 years make up about 20% of the entire USA population. And only 3% out of the 20% are represented on screen. I actually support his advocacy for more geriatric representation on screen.
One of the unfortunate events that resulted from Elisabeth's experiment was "self competition".
It is common knowledge that, competing with yourself leads to a better version of yourself. Coralie Fargeat, the brilliant director behind this picture is telling us it's not always the case. There's a possibility of becoming worse than your old self from self competition, as depicted in this film.
Coralie took a page from her short film Reality+ and adapted it into an outlandish book (The Substance), with the subject matter serving as the spine to bind the related pages together. Also, she acts like a plasmodium parasite by feeding into blood to generate shock value, as it is evident in her film Revenge, and now The Substance.
I found the final act of this film to be a bit outrageous even for a body horror, and why was there a delayed reaction from the audience as they saw the new creature on stage?
Apart from the squeamish last act, I applaud Coralie Fargeat's vision, and this is one of the best films of 2024.
In the end, you should learn to love yourself, and do not measure your self esteem from society.
The film follows Elisabeth Sparkle, played by the wonderful Demi Moore, who succumbs to the pressure about losing her job to a younger and hotter person. She then takes "The Substance" which produces Sue, played by the talented Margaret Qualley, as a younger and hotter version of herself. This experiment conducted by Elisabeth starts a chain reaction of unfortunate events.
Regarding the patriarchal society we live in, females are mostly subjected to utmost scrutiny when it comes to age and beauty. This scrutiny leads to unhealthy decisions as showcased in this film.
I don't think age and beauty are inversely related. This reminds me of a pivotal scene from Greta Gerwig's Barbie, where Barbie tells an old woman she's beautiful, and her reply was "I know it". One doesn't necessarily lose beauty as aging occurs.
In Paul Downs acceptance speech for Hacks winning Best Comedy Series at this year's Emmys, he said they were skeptical about pitching a show about two women, where one is over 60 years. This dubitation stemmed from the narrative: "the public wants young and hot people on screen". They've successfully trumped that narrative with the shows ratings and accolades. He further stated that, people over 60 years make up about 20% of the entire USA population. And only 3% out of the 20% are represented on screen. I actually support his advocacy for more geriatric representation on screen.
One of the unfortunate events that resulted from Elisabeth's experiment was "self competition".
It is common knowledge that, competing with yourself leads to a better version of yourself. Coralie Fargeat, the brilliant director behind this picture is telling us it's not always the case. There's a possibility of becoming worse than your old self from self competition, as depicted in this film.
Coralie took a page from her short film Reality+ and adapted it into an outlandish book (The Substance), with the subject matter serving as the spine to bind the related pages together. Also, she acts like a plasmodium parasite by feeding into blood to generate shock value, as it is evident in her film Revenge, and now The Substance.
I found the final act of this film to be a bit outrageous even for a body horror, and why was there a delayed reaction from the audience as they saw the new creature on stage?
Apart from the squeamish last act, I applaud Coralie Fargeat's vision, and this is one of the best films of 2024.
In the end, you should learn to love yourself, and do not measure your self esteem from society.
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- When was The Substance released?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $3,205,212
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $3,205,212
- Sep 22, 2024
- Gross worldwide
- $3,241,326
- Runtime2 hours 21 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
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