The Substance Review: Sick & Twisted Satire

The Substance takes a creative sci-fi concept and pushes it to the extreme, using revolting body horror to forge a brutal takedown of the beauty industry.

But when a package arrives at her door with the promise of turning her into the ‘best version of herself’, Elizabeth enters a dangerous journey of self-destruction in the pursuit of staying young.

The most striking thing about The Substance is how effectively it uses this simple story to provide modern, poignant commentary on the beauty industry and the inflating importance of how we perceive ourselves. It’s very clear and overt in its allegory, never trying to be subtle or hide its true meaning behind complex metaphors that require multiple watches to understand. Fargeat’s film is a modern-day “Dorian Gray” with hints of horror classics like “Frankenstein” and modern satires like Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. It’s a very clear story about what it means to get older, how this affects our lives, and the self-destructive cycle that comes along with the futile pursuit of youth. 

What’s perhaps unexpected about such a profound tale of ageing and decay is that The Substance is absolutely hilarious from start to finish. It fully accepts the absurdity of its concept, using sarcasm and satirical humour to highlight the hypocrisy of the beauty and fashion industries through these characters. Elisabeth Sparkle is beautiful and talented, but it’s not until an even younger and more easily-objectifiable version of her comes along that she’s taken seriously and appreciated; this makes the basis of most of The Substance’s humour, and it always lands perfectly.

The film’s editing (from Jérôme Eltabet, Valentin Féron, and Fargeat herself) also contributes strongly to that sense of dark comedy that runs throughout: the whole thing is so snappy and energetic, with creative transitions and unique framing decisions that give the movie a breakneck pace despite the relatively lengthy runtime. It’s reminiscent of filmmakers like Edgar Wright or Guy Ritchie in its flashy and creative style, but even stronger thanks to the powerful narrative substance behind it. With her new movie, Fargeat has truly cemented herself as one of the most interesting, watchable directors to emerge in the past few years.

One of the biggest dangers with films like The Substance, which build towards an enormous, bloody climax, is that everything that precedes that bold finale can easily feel like setup. That’s never the case with The Substance, as the first two acts are just as materially dense and gripping as the explosive conclusion. It never relies on the blood and grotesque horror to be interesting, but merely uses it as a vehicle to enhance its message and provide audiences with the most entertaining experience imaginable. That means that by the time the third act rolls around, you’re already completely gripped and on-board for the bizarre showcase that Fargeat has in store. 

The Substance played as the final movie of the Midnight Madness program at the Edinburgh Film Festival, and it’s hard to imagine a film more suitable for the experience. It’s loud, bloody, terrifying at points and hilarious at others; when the audience wasn’t laughing out loud, they were groaning in disgust, but there was barely an ounce of disappointment in the whole crowd. It’s the kind of brash bloodbath that might be offputting to some, but Fargeat is a master of her craft and knows exactly how to capitalise on the genre and make a movie that’s impossible to forget.

The Substance was screened at the Edinburgh Film Festival on August 21, 2024 and was released in US theaters and in UK cinemas in September. The film will be available to stream on MUBI from October 31, 2024.