The Substance: A Vomit-Inducing Pleasure

Most wouldn’t admit relating to this question—yet most undeniably have. It tackles the desire for a smarter, prettier, funnier duplicate of ourselves that would bring us closer to the life we believe we deserve. Even if only fleeting, this wish to be revamped feels almost virtuous; it shows our drive to improve. Yet, how far are you willing to go—and what are you willing to lose—to make this ideal mirror reality? The Substance, a 2024 satirical horror film, answers these questions—going beyond the traditional fright I’ve felt in a theater. We are presented with a cautionary tale.

Coralie Fargeat’s film is a unique, worthwhile exploration of how virtues, such as ambition and resilience, can be distorted into destructive vices under society’s relentless obsession with beauty and youth. The film goes beyond traditional jump scares; instead, it unsettles viewers with visceral images and gruesome sounds, but mostly by forcing us to watch someone lose themselves in the pursuit of perfection. 

Demi Moore’s character Elisabeth Sparkle is a fading Hollywood star who embodies the longing for youth and relevance in an industry that worships beauty—not talent. She is relegated to hosting a televised aerobics dance show, where she is a product tied solely to her appearance. When her boss, Harvey, fires her due to her age, Elisabeth is propelled to reclaim her job. Initially, her ambition feels like resilience. Soon, however, Elisabeth is given a chance to turn back and have a taste of her former glory through The Substance—a black market, mysterious drug that creates a flawless clone of her younger self. The optimistic drive we initially saw now turns into something darker: every seven days, Elisabeth and her younger clone, Sue (played by Margaret Qualley), must switch places. When one of them is ‘awake’ and living out their life, the other is unconscious, with no control or memory of what the other has done. 

They live two separate lives but are one person. Quickly, Sue steps into Elisabeth’s previous role as the aerobics instructor, ultimately rising to fame as the young, hot, fit face of the show. The promise The Substance offers of youth, beauty, and success soon spirals into a rivalry as the two halves grapple with the battle of a fractured identity. At its core, Fargeat aims to challenge the relentless pursuit of perfection, particularly felt by women, that often leads to self-destruction and loss of identity. 

Fargeat’s critique is evident in her portrayal of female beauty as a marketable product to satisfy male appetites. Elisabeth's job as a famous televised aerobic exercise instructor promoting healthy lifestyles through choreography seemed positive. The reality, however, is that her dances in bright pink leotards were entertainment made for visual consumption. Harvey, her boss (played by Dennis Quaid), sees Elisabeth as a product losing value with age. Fargeat emphasizes his grotesque personality through disturbing close-ups that grasp every detail of his predatory nature. His first appearance is in a scene where he wolfs down prawns with their heads, shells, and eyes still intact. With wet crunches, he slurps and cracks each shell, letting the juices dribble down his face. This animalistic image demonstrates how he consumes without thought or care, symbolizing his indulgent attitude toward women like Elisabeth. The industry chews women and spits them out as soon as their “usefulness” fades. He, alongside many men in the film, becomes a caricature of the industry’s misogyny; in fact, though not confirmed by Fargeat, some speculate that Harvey symbolizes Harvey Weinstein. This objectification pushes Elisabeth towards a path of vice; her ambition soon becomes a consuming self-obsession. Virtues—like self-improvement and ambition—when misdirected by societal pressures, crumble into vices. Elisabeth's obsession with regaining her youth—which she associates with her identity—shifts from a pursuit of self-empowerment to an attempt to satisfy Harvey’s expectations. Through Harvey and his influence, The Substance critiques how societal vices corrupt even the most empowering qualities. 

This spiral of destruction Elisabeth faces is remarkably powerful thanks to Fargeat’s excellent directing and symbolic storytelling. She uses eggs, mirrors, and food to illustrate the thin line between virtue and vice. The film opens with a single, raw egg injected with an unnatural green fluid—The Substance—causing the yolk to shake and split into two. This image foreshadows the film’s foundation—a drug that can create a duplicate—but also speaks to fertility, aging, and value. Eggs are symbols of life, rebirth, and potential, and become a reminder of Elisabeth’s fading youth and societal expectations around female worth. Later on, as Elisabeth smashes dozens of eggs, the scene reflects her inner frustration and disintegration, a reminder of how society’s worship of youth wraps her ambitions into self-destructive obsessions. Similarly, the mirror is repeatedly shown and becomes a powerful motif. Each time we see the mirror, we will see Elisabeth’s growing insecurities and distorted self-image or Sue’s self-infatuation. The food further intensifies this theme. Foie gras, a dish that is made by force-feeding, appears in a cookbook Elisabeth reads, subtly symbolizing the cruelty she endures for beauty, and force-fed expectations for perfection. Through these hidden yet potent symbols, Fargeat targets a culture that commodifies women’s bodies and takes virtues into instruments of self-harm. How she does so is truly unique and worth experiencing firsthand. 

The Substance is not for the squeamish. Forget having snacks at the theater because I truly considered leaving several times to vomit. This feeling stayed with me for the rest of the night, but so did the film’s message. The raw depiction of Elisabeth’s tragic journey and regrets challenges audiences to confront their own relationship with ambition and self-image.

References 

Fargeat, Coralie, director. The Substance. Working Title Films, 2024. 2 hr., 21 min. https://www.amazon.com/Substance-Coralie-Fargeat/dp/B0DGQVXDLV