SCREEN SHOT - The Substance

There is quite a lot of Oscar buzz around this film. Demi Moore having already won a Golden Globe for her performance. And you can see why it might garner such recognition. Its a classic case of a female actor being willing to go all the way with not being attractive in a movie, all in the pursuit of truth and authenticity. Demi Moore is central to why this film works, and she is undoubtedly good in it, I remain to be convinced its worthy of being lauded with an Oscar, unless its simply for submitting yourself to the most extreme degrading form of prosthetics imaginable. 

The Substance, is a type of feminist parable, that the Director and Writer - Coralie Fargeat takes to its full gory conclusion. If you've heard that this is body horror, well it certainly is, and it is quite the most toe curling and gratuitously gross film I've ever seen. Though its utterly brilliant in what it does,  I will not be watching it again, nor recommending anyone else to watch it.. Just when you think its reached the peak of Yuck,! you realise there is still half an hour to go, and the Yuck! quotient has only just got started. If you do watch this movie, don't say you have not been warned.

The starting point of the film is an actor Elizabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) a one time Oscar winner, who now earns a living as a TV fitness goddess. But she is touching fifty+ and the network drops her in pursuit of someone much younger. She finds out about The Substance, which if taken produces a younger version using your own body. Things start to go awry once Sparkle's younger body version, Sue (Margaret Qualley) takes over as the TV fitness guru. Even though there is meant to be an alternating seven days on meds and seven days off, Sue starts taking liberties and the relationship between them deteriorates. This is the relatively sane half of the movie. I wont go any further than that, because the film works best if you really don't know were its going to take you next.

The Substance makes its nods to a number of horror classics, The Shining, Carrie, The Fly. The fundamental story line being a feminist riff on Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. The ending has echoes of The Elephant Man. So this is a modern morality tale about the lengths women are expected to go to, in order to be still considered, not just attractive, but viable as a human being. Denis Quaid is superbly slimy and abrasive as the TV Executive Harvey, all fake suntan, snakeskin suits, who just wants women to smile beautifully, and has a fetish for boa feathers. All the men in this movie are ciphers for one sort of male entitlement or another. So, male representation here is deliberately cartoonish and consistently one dimensional. But then this is a film that is very very far from being cinema verite.

CARROT REVIEW - 6/8