Movie Details
| Title: | The Substance | |
| Director: | Coralie Fargeat | |
| Year: | 2024 | |
| Genre: | Horror | |
| Times Seen: | 1 | |
| Last Seen: | 10.31.24 |
Other Movies Seen By This Director (1)
- Revenge
| Date Viewed | Venue | Note |
| 10.31.24 | Internet | Well it's Halloween and I'm quarantining with the flue. Pretty awesome. The one silver lining I guess is I can watch movies with my headphones on and not bother anyone with my coughing. So I thought it fitting I should watch a horror movie. I'd heard some pretty extreme stuff about this movie, like how audiences were walking out during the first fifteen minutes. It was surprising to me since it starred people like Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley. Really intense stuff typically doesn't attract Hollywood talent, so that got my interest. Had I checked the director that would've gone a long way to explain it. This is a body horror movie from the woman who made Revenge. Seen through that lens it makes total sense. She gives this genre the same treatment she gave the rape revenge genre in her previous film. It's not quite reality and style is much more important than substance but she revels in the genre and has fun stretching it to fit her fantastical worldview and what you end up with is, yes, pretty intense but also far too departed from any semblance of reality to land home in a nightmarish way. The audiences who left at the first sight of skin breaking open probably didn't fully realize that, although they should've with that shot of Dennis Quaid entering a restroom and using a urinal while talking on his phone. If that hallway and that restroom and that outfit don't tell you everything you need to know about the movie, then I guess maybe the body horror stuff is too intense. The premise is an aging star hears about this drug that creates a younger, more perfect version of you. She signs up, births Margaret Qualley out of her back, then the younger clone proceeds to gain popularity as older/Demi's replacement. There are simple rules which immediately get broken and by the end it turns rather phantasmagorical. So, two things impressed me most about the movie. Well, three. One: Demi Moore is really really naked in this movie quite a lot. And like close-up on her naked butt levels of naked. Gotta give her credit for sigining up for this movie... the tragedy of this movie and (I suppose) the whole point is that even though hollywood and society has thrown her away due to her age, you probably can't find an actress in better shape for her age than Demi Moore. I mean yes you can see that she's had some extensive work done but there's almost no fat on her body and she's like 60. It's remarkable. She and Brad Pitt must have similar luciferian contracts. Two: this is a side note but they really shoot the hell out of Margaret Qualley's figure as well. The source of her fame is basically that music video for Benny Benassi's Satisfaction. look it up (when you're not at work). I bet they spent two weeks just getting close-ups of her ass. I know this movie has a feminist message but there were times when I pondered if the amount of lingering close-ups framed on Qualley's swimsuit-clad crotch had escalated to Roger Vadim territory. It's a lot! Three: the package design for the titular Substance is fantastic. It's got a little nod to The Re-Animator in there but mostly I got a twisted sci-fi Hello Fresh. Everything in it's nice little servings, neatly adorned, clear instructions. It's a total post-pandemic take on a macguffin. I do have to nail home once again what a weird french movie this is. Like she can't even be bothered to make up fake names for shows. it's just from The Morning Show to New Years Eve. The idea that one taping of an exercise show is enough to propel anyone to stardom... these bizarre interiors... and everything about Dennis Quaid. I think they found a few palm trees in Cannes or something and shot Demi walking down a street a dozen times and that's what passes for California. The diner, the weird alley, everywhere else looks a thousand percent French. I'm not criticizing here, this is just my way of trying to say that I have to take this movie for what it is. You don't get the hardcore fire hose of blood at the end without all this other stuff. As someone who usually appreciates when movies have their plots follow some kind of logic (even when it's their own), I would've liked the movie a lot better if this same story was told by someone with a more realistic touch, but that's now how it works with writer/directors. I still liked it, certainly parts of it I thought were fantastic, but it was just much much too long and far out in wackadoo land for me. For the record: I do realize me complaining that a movie about clones is not realistic enough sounds pretty absurd, but there is a difference. anyways, Happy Halloween! |
