X
In Theaters Now
- 2024
- R
- MUBI
- 2 h 20 m
- 2024
- R
- MUBI
- 2 h 20 m
Summary Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself? You. Only better in every way. You've got to try this new product. It changed my life.
Directed By: Coralie Fargeat
Written By: Coralie Fargeat
In Theaters Now
- 2024
- R
- MUBI
- 2 h 20 m
- 2024
- R
- MUBI
- 2 h 20 m
The Substance
76
User Score
Available after 4 ratings
tbd
Where to Watch
Summary Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself? You. Only better in every way. You've got to try this new product. It changed my life.
Directed By: Coralie Fargeat
Written By: Coralie Fargeat
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 49 Critic Reviews
76
84% Positive
41 Reviews
41 Reviews
12% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
4% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 49 Critic Reviews
76
84% Positive
41 Reviews
41 Reviews
12% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
4% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
It’s horrifying in the moment and gnawingly haunting when you process it fully: a sickening satire of society’s obsession with youth and beauty.
An immensely, unstoppably, ecstatically demented fairy tale about female self-hatred, Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance will stop at nothing — and I mean nothing — to explode the ruthless beauty standards that society has inflicted upon women for thousands of years.
The Substance works as well as it does because of Moore’s unbridled performance as a woman struggling with self-hatred, society’s treatment of her, and a newfound dependency on a miracle drug.
The Substance won’t reset society’s fixation on youth or cure Hollywood’s sexist ills. It will, however, remind you that when you’re chasing your past by any means necessary, you are always your own worst enemy.
In its trashiness – and, yes, its refusal of serious substance – The Substance should really be put out on VHS cassettes and watched at home in homage to the great era of home entertainment pulp and video-store masterpieces of weirdness and crassness.
The most compelling parts of The Substance deal with how social conventions turn women against themselves. A stronger version of the film might have dug into the complexities of that truth, instead of simply arranging itself around it.
After two hours and 20 minutes of flamboyantly repulsive variations on this well-worn theme, even the strongest-stomached and most feminist of viewers could be excused for muttering, We get it already.
User Reviews
tbd
Awards
Cannes Film Festival
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
Toronto International Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
MOTELx - Festival Internacional de Cinema de Terror de Lisboa
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination