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I wanted to like this movie so badly, but your review is more accurate than any of the ones that hype it up. The gratuitous T&A undercut the themes, and the tone shift going into the third act was just an unpalatable mix of mean-spirited campy comedy.

I would have left the theater after that insanely boring 30 minute "what have they been up to" segment if my mom wasn't with me. By the time the big payoff (there is no payoff) arrives I just wanted the movie to be over but it has like a 20 minute dance sequence. Just bad writing, bad performances, senseless characters, and nothing new to add. Also probably offensive to a lot of folks. What a turd.

Thank you for finally giving an honest review. I felt the pacing was off, should be an hour and 10 min shorter.

It is a bit overhyped and a bit long but a good addition to the horror movies we’ve had this year.

Muddled messaging??? LOL hard disagree this film had 1 of the most simply and clear messaging for a film ever

In the second half of your review, you literally give away the fact that you didn't understand the film fully. The movie makes it very clear that they are not two different people living different lives. They are each playing parts of the same psyche. Sue is self obsessed and hates the idea of getting older. But the harder she works and parties Elizabeth represents the consequences of that self neglect. Through Sue, we get to see how Elizabeth lived and let herself fall into the glamor trap. Elizabeth represents the price she paid for living and perpetuating the sword of society. Food is made to look disgusting and yet it is the true sustenance of life. The third act is inviting is to two look at the two as one being and how impossible it is to reconcile the contradictions one lived by.

they are still the same person, one mind, its just that when shes Sue she hates herself for getting old. Its basically like committing to a diet then one night you binge eat and hate yourself for eating yet youre aware. Sue is just the physical manifestation of that guilt. Thats why the first time she felt shes loosing control she smacks herself on the head and in the shower telling herself to "stop it"

The male characters, specifically, are the film’s critique of the male gaze. All the butt shots and the like are not. This is a critique of the female gaze. A female obsession, and she does it to herself

I love seeing youg people collecting physical media and being interested in older movies and actors like James Cagney man of a thousand face's he done a lot of good movies

I'm sorry to hear you were disappointed with the film. I thought it was absolutely fantastic and it perfectly captures, in my opinion, what it feels like to hate yourself and failure to love and respect yourself. As someone who has struggled with self acceptance and self respect, this film really struck a chord with me, and I think anyone can relate to this film, regardless of your gender. What I will say is the ending really ruined all that goodwill build up for me, because it just gets really silly and goofy, which kinda contradicts the rest of the movie.

It was empty. Also, the Aronofsky, "Requiem For a Dream" style editing was more offensive than any gross-out horror. It's ADD-filmmaking. I have an idea for a film that deals serious issues that affect women - P OV E R T Y Idk, I just find it hard to feel bad for Hollywood stars. Moore was good, for sure. No argument there. That scene where she couldn't go out was by *far* the best, most mature scene. You are *bang on* in your review. And despite what everyone is saying about them "sharing the same consciousness" this is CLEARLY not what is going on. Cronenberg it is NOT. Aphex Twin "Windowlicker" music video was better, if a lot less gross That was 25 years ago...similar aesthetic.

my wife took me to this movie today and I did not know one thing about. The scenes where the manager was stuffing is face and making a mess was probably more unsettling than the rest if the movie.

YO

the sheep are upset you didnt like it Im glad you have a brain and arent praising this really bad movie

Contrarian takes are a disease

i agree. when i was at the theatre and heard men groan and laugh at demi when she was in her old age makeup, that’s when i knew that the directors goal was not gonna be reaching men. men love this movie bc of margaret’s ass, not because they understand what the director was saying. i think the gratuitous shots of sue were a way to show how ridiculous it feels to be a woman and to have the male gaze shoved down our throats our whole life, but, in the end, she catered to it.

i completely agree with your take, but i still had a good time with this movie

100% agree, when you make something this shallow and paper thin you allow everyone to see whatever they want and fill it up with as much as they want, many movies have done the same. But in the end, its still shallow and paper thin. Still had some fun though, was entertaining for sure ill give them that

The entire film is from Elisabeth's perspective(with a few exceptions) and so all the ogling the camera does is how she's perceiving herself and giving you insight to how she feels about her young self. It's a reflection of how women will internalize the male gaze to appeal to it and how it twists women's self worth. The movie challenges this by not ogling her body when she begins to resent her youthful self

4:28 That’s the entire point. They’re objectifying it to show how they’re being objectified

Bc it’s cell division in order to make the younger self, it basically split the two entities into all the positives and negatives that Elisabeth sees in herself. The self hate festers from there. Sue has to take cerebral spinal fluid to stabilize so when she stabilizes herself she gains some consciousness. Sue is so unwilling to switch back because why would she want to go back to all the things she hates about herself? It’s also why Elisabeth does not feel good about herself the rest of the movie, why she falls into an eating disorder, why she can’t go out on a date, and why she ultimately can’t stop using the substance because all of her joy and will is still in Sue

The movie shows how a younger version of someone can be almost completely different of an older version of the same person. It shows how you can sabotage yourself. Too superficial thought to assume they are clones. It's a satirical and methaphorical movie, so don't keep yourself cought up in details. The movie tells you she is the same person so that you know that they are just different versions of the same person. And it shows how you can forget/ignore things that you do as your other version, like real cases of self sabotage. It's like you create a chatacter for the world and being yourself when you are alone. Yourself hate that character but you need it to be popular. That character also feels ashame of yourself when thinking about being with others. That's it.

So incredibly proud of you, and the way you have found your voice and purpose. Awe struck...

I laughed so much in the third act that I felt bad for the other members of the audience- the movie just turns it up to an eleven, then proceeds to paint on additional numbers to crank it up to... 😂 Unfortunately, this is also what Hereditary did, went so far into the magical realm that it literally disconnects me taking any of it seriously; it becomes hilarious instead of shocking or frightening. It really does have more in common with Tales From The Crypt or some similar show, over the top.

I was surprised with how much Beetlejuice 2 made me laugh, I haven't laughed that much in the theatre for a long time, it was just an overall enjoyable movie, and it's nice to see that Tim Burton still has it.

Where did you get that Substance hat in the background? I want one!

A critic who can’t handle criticism 😂 why’d you block my other account for saying weak review? Maybe get a new profession

Thank you for this, 'cause the pleasures others have derived from it missed me.

Perfect and correct!! Awesome review!!!

thank you. why would anyone take the substance. there's no benefit to it. far as i saw you dot share the same mind so essentially. you give birth out your back.... no thank you. and you don't even get to see the other side of your hotter self due to being in a coma for the week they aren't. i don't get why anyone take this.

I heard so much praise and hype so I saw it tonight and I agree a lot with your synopsis. It went way beyond what I was expecting and I’m not sure I liked the mega over the top ness but I really felt for Elizabeth’s character. I was like poor Demi… it lost me somewhere when the arthritic decrepit Liz starts moving around like gang busters and the Toxic Avenger type lunacy seemed like a departure from over the top to over the mountain but Hollywood being as fake and ridiculous as it it, I guess this made perfect sport of that.

I keep seeing male reviewers raving about the film uncritically, I’ve been looking for a woman’s perspective as there was a lot I loved about the film, but I could have done with more depth to the plot and I was definitely ready for it to be over by the end. I loved the scene where Elizabeth is getting ready to go out and related hard to it. As a woman in her 50’s I was here for the themes but wanted less grotesque and more nuance. Maybe that’s too much ask from a body horror movie?

Excellent collection! I did the same thing and bought Deep Cover twice 😅 the art is just so striking I probably just instinctively clicked. And hell yes to THIEF and OLD! Do you have something you’re dying to get a release? I’m aching for a Strange Days, really any early Bigelow stuff needs more physical releases

It's not even unique honestly. It rips off fhe film Seconds

Yea I think the thing that keeps tripping me is what seems to be the takeaway. The message is: "Be happy with what you have, because it could always be worse"... which isn't a 'fearless takedown of beauty standards'. It's a surrender being treated as a victory.

This is exactly how I felt! Here's my letterboxd review that I dumped as the credits rolled: Not sure what this movie was trying to say but it's gross and funny with great performances. Thought it was odd that the movie ostensibly tries to start a conversation about how we should find value beyond our image and the way other people perceive our worth as we age... but also uses aging and characteristics of older bodies as a primary source of horror. Isn't that contrary to the goal of loving ourselves and finding connection throughout life? Also, why didn't Elisabeth just do what Sue was doing to her?? It's so weird to me that there's all this commentary on male gaze but this movie objectifies female bodies more than I've seen in a long time. The finale of the film is an absurd, blood drenched mess where there is an attempt to indict audiences, producers, men, anyone involved in creating or consuming entertainment from objectified female bodies...but I still don't think that makes the exploitation throughout the rest of the film any less contradictory... And I also feel like I am reaching to draw that conclusion. The film more clearly just reads like the picture of dorian gray with a central character who has no wants or needs beyond staying in the limelight. I liked the sensation of rage that permeates the film. It's the best part and most coherent part of the film. Rage at sexist men. Rage at a system built on body exploitation and dissociation for other's benefit. Rage at loneliness. Rage at our own selves. Rage at being stuck in self-destructive behaviors. But that one note left me a little disappointed across such a LONG runtime.

I completely disagree with your muddled messaging section; they’re also not two separate people - it’s made clear multiple times they are one. I will agree there’s not much on the page to Elizabeth, but I think casting Demi Moore fills in a lot for that lack.

I think this movie's largest intent was to be a cinematic experience. To do that you have to balance the story and I think the director did just that. This movie took us into a specific world and didn't explain or justify much of anything which was an incredibly smart choice. I would be interested to see your review of it if you watched it again but went in with a mindset of just having a cinematic experience rather than trying to uncover some huge deep story

I liked this but didn't love it. The script is weak, characters thin. It's pushed by it's style and the two lead performances. Although, Demi is definitely the strongest and I wanted more time with her and less with Margaret. The message is important but it's so on the nose with nothing new to say. The third act is too long and no it's not because it's gross. I get it but let's move on. Production design is great but it's not too different from requiem for a dream, death becomes her, possessor or basket case. I don't want to invalidate people who are excited by this but I'd like to know if it'll hold up to them upon rewatch.

While everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I would like to chime in a bit, especially regarding what you call "muddled messaging". I believe this movie shows the embodiment of our inner "gaze". It is not "them" (e.g. "the movie", "the producers") sexualizing young bodies or "them" showing ageing as being repugnant, it is "us" doing it by ourselves, to ourselves. Round butt is round butt, and wrinkled skin is wrinkled skin, no matter the angle or the light. We are the ones that attribute other characteristics to these physical features, such as being "hot" or "atrocious". The movie reveals how toxic it can be to do this, and how such attitude can easily lead to disgust and hatred towards yourself just because of some physical features changing. It does not show "how it should be", it shows "how it is".

Morons

I 100% agree with you. I definitely recommend people to see the film, but i felt nothing for the characters and the film is not saying anything we didn't already know. Beauty and youth has been the number one priority in Hollywood for 100 years. The body horror elements were great though.

What I will remember most from this movie are numerous repeated cases when the director forgot to say "cut". You could easily shave 30 minutes off this movie without any loss. Actually it would be improved by this.

Haven’t seen it yet but your very insightful analysis meshes with what my gut is telling me from the clips and gushing reviews by others. I most likely will be referencing your perspective when I watch it.

I saw it as ending up old and damaged was her worst fear and her not facing that and trying to find a way to hide behind it only made it worse. In the end I take the campiness of everything being that was her worst nightmare that she ended up creating and everyone (everything) had to bathe in the consequences of that..😂💀 I would love to talk more on spoilers fr I loved this

You’re the first review of this film that I agreed with! I saw it today and though I enjoyed it for the most part, the ending became too self-indulgent (on the director’s part) of wanting to ram the message down our throats, as if the explicit gore we had witnessed for over 2 hrs wasn’t enough already! The last 10-15 mins of the film just became comically stupid to me. Had it finished at the reveal of the second ‘birth’, it would have been far more impactful. That being said, the acting was good from all involved even though they were all shallow caricatures. Definitely worth a watch but not the gloriously top-notch horror that everyone is making it out to be.

The trailer for ‘The Substance’ promises titillation galore for teenage boys and dirty old men, under the guise of ‘social critique’. How far is this tactic from the films produced by the American Social Hygiene Association, at the beginning of the 20th century? The males will leave this film with ‘flesh on the mind’ and the females with ‘cosmetics on the mind’. Successful actresses build their career on character, rather than contours (i.e. Angela Lansbury). Filmmakers who genuinely love women, provide opportunities for their feminine strength of character to shine. Misogynistic filmmakers expose bodily contours and then proceed to tear them apart for the viewer’s perverse delight. My favourite Demi Moore film is ‘One Crazy Summer’. I would like to see more films like ‘Howard’s End’ or ‘Trust’ where the women are given something edifying to do… While the filmmakers are patting themselves on the back, for simply reinforcing ‘the male gaze’, here are some valid criticisms: “But for all its feminist diatribes, The Substance is still a movie that is 80 percent extreme close-ups of Margaret Qualley’s arse. In nearly every other scene, the camera lovingly pans over her spandex-clad exterior, in sequences that are shot like ‘90s Viagra commercials” (Inverse.com). "The Substance’s presentation is as shallow as the very thing it’s critiquing. There’s no compassion, and certainly no catharsis - just more hagsploitation and a sense of déjà vu." (Hannah Strong) "An overuse of stale horror conventions in an already predictable plot-combined with decades-old, thoroughly unchallenging ideas about women’s relationships to their bodies-leads to a film that claims to support its protagonist, while treating her like the butt of the joke at every turn.. . I will not deny that Margaret Qualley is great to look at, but Fargeat undermines her film’s satirical point by catering to the same male gaze that the script claims to despise so deeply. Fargeat isn’t quite sure what she wants to say about women’s relationships to their body and images of their body, so she falls back on simply showing us that Margaret Qualley is hot.” (Paste Magazine) '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." (Slate Magazine)

(Spoilers) Your inability to step outside of the idea everyone else has that it's supposed to be JUST a commentary on the standards women have set for them is not indicative of the movie actually being underwhelming. Everything in it serves a purpose. There is very much a lot of substance to it. Sue is meant to be a complete exaggeration of what Elisabeth (and in turn many women) believes she has to be in order to be accepted/make it. She shares no common traits with Elisabeth because Elisabeth has essentially hated herself into becoming an entirely different person. Even the substance advert is constantly talking about "becoming a better version of yourself", to some that's looking younger, being fitter, to Elisabeth it's becoming an entirely different human being, which is why her and Sue look so different too, unlike the other self in the beginning of the movie who shares very similar physical traits to his matrix like the blue eyes and the birthmark being in the same place (unlike Elisabeth's birthmark which on Sue moves from her stomach to her ribs), and just looks like a younger version of the matrix. While Elisabeth stuffs her face and watches TV, Sue has a fridge full of vegetables and drinks diet coke. While Elisabeth is alone at a bar, Sue is in relations with multiple attractive men. Even the scene where she's supposed to go on the date with Frank but ends up ditching him because she was spending so much time fixing her appearance, her trying to look good (in a way that is reminiscent of Sue) but then seeing the photo of Sue (the massive billboard symbolic for the constant internal comparison and reminders of what Elisabeth is not) which just further emphasizes the differences between her and Sue, so she tries to cover up and make herself look more matronly (the opposite of what Sue is). The other self who introduces her at the beginning to the substance is still "one" enough with the matrix to tell her that the substance changed his life (which a separate disconnected other self would not do as that other self is referring to himself and the matrix as one), and has clearly been using the substance for a long time, hasn't experienced that disconnect because he is a man. With Sue and Elisabeth they have a much larger disconnect because Elisabeth and Sue can't accept the fact that they are in fact one person, because doing so for Elisabeth would emphasize what she lacks as well as her secret/not so secret desire to be loved and viewed as attractive even if in a twisted manner, and for Sue it would emphasize that she came from someone like Elisabeth whom she does not in fact view as attractive or "up to standard", which is also commentary for many younger women hating older women and treating them like crap despite the fact that those women went through the same things/often worse and paved the way for younger women (hence Elisabeth constantly emphasizing that Sue came from her). That's just scratching the surface of the symbolism in the movie

I think your brain is empty.

Elisabeth and Sue are the same person. The movie literally tells you over and over again that they are one.