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The Substance is a disturbingly visceral body-horror movie that explores society’s obsession with aging and the commodification of youth and beauty. The film follows Elisabeth Sparkle, a 50-year-old actress who is driven to desperate, dangerous measures by the unfair expectations of the Hollywood machine. She turns to an experimental drug called The Substance in order to create a younger, more perfect version of herself. Her career is over for the simple reason that her misogynistic producer—and, it’s implied, the audiences he serves—has decided that she’s hit her threshold of usefulness and attractiveness when she turns fifty. As she navigates the consequences of splitting her existence between two bodies in the pursuit of making herself “better,” the story pushes repeated references to the terrible cost that ageism and beauty standards exact on women in the real world.

Before The Substance, director Coralie Fargeat was mostly known for her 2017 film Revenge, and for directing an episode of the Sandman television series. Her cinematic work pushes boundaries through both violence and black comedy and asks uncomfortable questions about the lengths people will go to get what they want. Her filmmaking lens often points at the relationship between physical transformation and extreme gore; The Substance is no different. The film draws from the canon of cinematic body horror, from extreme close-ups of needles clumsily puncturing skin to the prolonged, fleshly, and flamboyant explosion of Monstro-Elisasue. 

Demi Moore’s performance as Elisabeth has been widely praised; she won the Best Actress Golden Globe in 2025 and was nominated for the Oscar in the same category. Many critics have applauded Moore’s (and the film’s) willingness to embrace excess, calling her performance a bold, brave commentary on beauty standards and self-worth. The film’s extensive and unflinching use of extreme body horror has drawn comparisons to classic horror films by David Cronenberg and Darren Aronofsky. There is no beauty, Fargeat seems to say, that comes without a painful bill to pay. The Substance joins a canon of films like 1981’s Possession, 2014’s Black Swan and 2013’s Under the Skin, movies which ask their viewers to think carefully about the results of equating female success with physical perfection. These movies examine the precariousness of living in a world where a young, beautiful physical appearance is the only valuable, lovable part of a woman. 

However, some viewers have also questioned whether The Substance’s message is overshadowed by its violent imagery. The repetitive and constant sexualization of Sue’s body is juxtaposed with the grim and merciless destruction of Elisabeth’s. While The Substance certainly makes a serious critique of Hollywood’s treatment of older actresses, some critics have argued that the movie leans too heavily into the idea that aging is a nightmarish process that robs a woman of her desirability. Despite the mixed reactions from critics and audiences, The Substance was a box office success that has become a cultural touchstone, sparking countless online conversations about the gory spectacle of it all, the lead actresses, and the treatment of aging women in the entertainment industry. 

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