Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) has had a long career as an actress and fitness guru but discovers that her boss (Dennis Quaid) wants to replace her with a younger, hotter model. Desperate to continue to feel relevant, Elisabeth agrees to an extremely off-the-books medical procedure/lifestyle called The Substance, that promises her a newer, better version of herself. Literally. Elisabeth takes one injection and her Other Self, Sue (Margaret Qualley), emerges from her spine, fully-formed and ready for auditions. But as Sue's career takes off, the idea of switching back into Elisabeth becomes more and more odious, while Elisabeth grows more frustrated by the ravages Sue's "borrowing time" does to her body.
There's a lot happening in this movie, very little of it good or nuanced or original. "Women are obsessed with youth and beauty and That's Bad" is so tired as a concept. Do we really need to re-hash second-wave feminism? This also feels like a dig at motherhood. Elisabeth literally births a younger version of herself and then feels robbed of said youth when Sue makes her own choices independent of Elisabeth. It could have had something to say about the idea of making bad decisions in your youth leading to consequences as you age, but again that's not really new. And yet, this movie won Best Screenplay at Cannes this year...
Conceptual problems aside, this was an incredible performance from Demi Moore who I have never seen be as snarlingly feral as here. And of course the Academy salivates over beautiful women "uglying up" to play characters so I wouldn't be surprised if this nets her a nomination in a couple of months. You can probably still catch it in theaters, but it's also on VOD now. I'm not going to say don't watch it, because Moore and Qualley deserve recognition but you could get the exact same message from Death Becomes Her, which is streaming for free on Tubi.
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