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Coraline Fargeat knows a thing or two about getting in your face. With only two feature films under her belt Fargeat has made a name for herself in the horror scene that transcends normal standards by going for the jugular in a wild and needed voice. Her first film “Revenge” flipped the narrative on male gaze and revenge films delivering a gnarly yet still bubblegum approach a “fuck you men” tale of a woman hellbent on her deserved vengeance on a group of men who deserved nothing but the worst of pain. Her latest may strip male antagonists from the main ground hut in no means does it go light on patriarchal bullshit standards. THE SUBSTANCE is Fargeat continuing her madness in a wonderfully demented twist on beauty standard narratives and the ongoing destruction of women at the forefront. It also is one of the most exhilarating theater going experiences you will have this year. Comamnded by its two ferocious leads, Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley respectively, THE SUBSTANCE is a tale of then and now and how whether its past, present or future, the endgame for women in a world of women is total chaos. Gone is any subtlety thankfully and instead Fargeat, Moore and Qualley scream in frustration and excitement as they bring you closer into the world of not just celebrated women, but women in general. It will be all too real for many and foreign for others, but thankfully Fargeat always knows to craft a bonkers film that brings everyone together in a squeamish journey through the forgotten and belittled. All this to say it’s a beautifully fucked up movie that shows that even if the madness shown in THE SUBSTANCE should be something we are scared of, Fargeat still makes us want more and more. Basically she found a way to make us addicted whether we like it or not.

Nobody caress about Elisabeth Sparkle anymore. Sparkle (Demi Moore) was once the highlight of the Hollywood scene most likely in the 80’s (Fargeat thankfully never gives us a concrete timeframe) but just as any 80’s starlet can tell you; the lights go down quicker than they came up. Elizabeth is still holding onto her gig as an aerobics instructor for a daytime show appropriately titled “Pump It Up.” The only issue? Nobody cares anymore. Elisabeth has the star on the Hollywood walk of fame, but Fargeat quickly reminds us how easily it is for anyone to fade. The show is failing, people bypass her star (when drunks aren’t puking on it) and Elisabeth is on thin ice with her manager Harvey (Dennis Quaid) who reminds her that nothing good happens after fifty. Moore an immaculate star of the 80’s has lived and died Elisabeth’s career ten times over again. A star that can walk into any room Moore is still able to show us that that even at the level of her fame the age of her womanhood makes Hollywood want to shake in their misogynistic tight boots. Moore as Elisabeth reminds us of a begone era, the 80’s starlet who was never treated right but Moore has always had the perseverance to overcome disgusting producers and an industry that sets you up to fail. Perhaps that is why Elisabeth hits the audience so emotionally she is (in all honesty) Moore without the consistent fame. The girl who never left St. Elmo’s Fire and instead got stuck being Andrew McCarthy’s chew toy. Moore thankfully has had a long luxurious career but even with all her success THE SUBSTANCE feels more like an answer for her underrated roles that deserved more love than the patriarchy refused to give her. But nonetheless THE SUBSTANCE is the story of Elisabeth being given the opportunity to bring about a younger ‘better” self of her through a mysterious organization that supplies her with the substance and barely enough guidelines to get her by. Elisabeth with very little options in her future takes the substance and brings upon one of the many grotesque body horror moments, She creates, as the substance promises, a new version of herself, but before this new version comes out of her (literally in fact) the usage of the substance is reminiscent of the many ways women of Moore’s era found sanctuary in drug abuse due to an abuse on and off screen by male producers. Again subtlety isn’t Fargeat’s game nor should it be.

To make matters worse, Elisabeth’s transformation is not just her younger self, but instead in the form of a new and vivacious performer going by the name Sue (Margaret Qualley). Fargeat never wants to break the fourth wall or be meta but there is a great humor in using Margaret Qualley as the new “Elisabeth.” Qualley one of the best young actresses working today has grown beyond the shadow of her mother Andie McDowell but playing the “younger” version of an 80’s starlet there is still a hint of irony and great humor with Qualley. But this is all quickly passed by as Fargeat has an incredible talent for shooting her female leads. There is constant talk of the male gaze dominating most films (especially in a time where we live in a superhero dominate industry) but Fargeat has playful banter with the way she shoots her female leads. The seductiveness and vivacious attitude of Sue is undeniable but Fargeat never lets us avoid our own perceptions of the character. Sue quickly wins over Harvey and takes on the “Pump It Up” show bringing some of the film’s funniest and horniest sequences. As Sue and her background dancers thrust to Endor’s “Pump It Up” all observation is taken away from what is happening and instead we are brought back (like the substance wants us to) to a younger time where sex thrived and the care of those on screen mattered little. We are not bad people for remembering this, but Fargeat reminds us how easy it is to come back to these memories. In fact anyone you do not even have to go back to the 80’s to be nostalgic. These “Pump It Up” scenes are basically a time capsule to Eric Prydz’s “Call On Me” music video where Deanne Berry brought on the sex appeal from the eighties back into modern day. THE SUBSTANCE plays on this, Sue may bring back that lustfulness that so many evoked gawking at their television but THE SUBSTANCE doesn’t just remind us of the cost of it all it forces us to stare at it endless.

Here is a film packed full of ideas and rules just like its mysterious drug. Elisabeth learns that in order to stay young and keep becoming Sue she must keep up an unforgiving drug routine. It does not take a scientist to see Fargeat’s reminder of how drugs, addiction, self harm and calculated food intake destroyed so many famous and up and coming women. You can easily substitute Elisabeth for Monroe, Garland, Whinehouse or even those still in command such as Margot Robbie or Olivia Rodrigo. Women from all over that still find themselves forced into the same trappings. These women are strong and can push forward for themselves but that does not mean they belong to an industry forgiving of such. Moore represents all these women and the future put out for them and Moore one of our greatest never misses a beat. She as a performer finds herself in a humiliating circumstances one moment and hysterical the next. Moore has always deserved her flowers and as Elisabeth she carries the anger of “Striptease” (a great movie!) and the sexiness of “Charlie’s Angel’s: Full Throttle.” Here is a performer at the top of her game in a film humorously showing that the industry wants people like Moore long gone. Instead Moore shows to the film, the audience and any future film producer that they can fuck right off and she is not going anywhere. The Oscar is hers in a better world.

THE SUBSTANCE is the kind of film you do not want spoiled but even more so the kind of film you want to see with a large audience. Since the film won’t, this critic will break the fourth wall and say that seeing THE SUBSTANCE creates one of those moments where everyone connects to witness the same gruesome acts followed by something even more repulsive. If you worry that THE SUBSTANCE is more commentary than gross out, fear not because it holds a final hour that may not produce aisle puking but easily creates full seat squirming whether it’s the weak or strong of heart. THE SUBSTANCE at its 140 minute runtime is definitely a productive product of overkill in the bests sense. Again here is a film that has avoided subtlety so why should it reduce itself in its final moments. Fargeat is a director that is very much in the inspiration of Cronenberg like many of her comrades in her generation but thankfully unlike most of them stands out on her own going for balls out in a final hour that screams ‘fuck yeah” and “I’m going to be sick.” It’s a beautiful accomplishment to have both a filmmaker ready to sicken us and push us to face the mirror. THE SUBSTANCE much like her first film is not one that wants to define the ground terms but instead be a shake up of what we imagined. It instead is a drug, a drug we cannot refuse because at the end of the day even if Fareget wants to fuck up the perspective it can be hard for us to do the same. Instead many are still stuck waiting for our own substance, but whose to say it won’t fuck us up in the end.

A

THE SUBSTANCE IS IN THEATERS FROM MUBI