TW: This article contains mentions of body dysmoprhia.
The Substance is a movie written and directed by Coralie Fargeat starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley. The film follows aging Hollywood star Elizabeth Sparkle (Moore), who loses her fitness TV program on her 50th birthday because the program’s executive (Dennis Quaid) claimed her age would lessen her attractiveness, thus decreasing ratings. Due to the sudden loss of her career solely based on her looks, she’s convinced to try “The Substance” — a black-market drug that creates a younger, better version of herself. This incident sparks a horrific spiral into insanity and self-destruction that was both a nauseating and intoxicating dissection of female body dysmorphia.
My Love-Hate Relationship with Body Horror
Body horror is intended to make its audience uncomfortable. This is why so many movies in the body horror genre contain pertinent social commentary. The audience is forced to view an issue they may have seen depicted a million times before in a purposefully unpalatable way. For example, The Fly (1986), a body horror film infamous for its grotesque imagery, was meant to represent the terror of the AIDS epidemic. Body horror can bring the mental or physical struggle of fundamental groups of people and flip it inside out to show its audience the bloody, gutsy, horrifying insides of these real issues.
Although I can acknowledge the importance of body horror, I absolutely hate watching it. Especially with modern developments in practical effects, it’s becoming harder and harder to differentiate reality from fiction. The gruesome visuals, the painfully realistic acting, and…the sounds, I despise the sounds. Watching the slow, graphic perversion of the human body is deeply unnerving to me, especially in The Substance.
The Substance’s Deconstruction of Body Dysmorphia
Body dysmorphic disorder (usually referred to as body dysmorphia) is an obsession with the way one looks to the point that it interferes with one’s ability to live normally. An overwhelming amount of people, especially women, today deal with symptoms of body dysmorphia. The increased pressure from social media and pop culture creates a set of unrealistic expectations: you can never visibly age, but if you do, you have to make sure to age gracefully and never get any plastic surgery that looks tacky; you have always to be skinny, but you can’t be too skinny, or you won’t have any curves, guys love curves; you always have to wear makeup, but you shouldn’t make it obvious, or you’ll look like a clown. It’s exhausting.
Throughout The Substance, the audience is made to watch Elizabeth’s hatred of herself and her body slowly and deliberately destroy her in the grossest way possible. When Elizabeth decides to take The Substance, she goes through an agonizing transformation that creates her better self, Sue. Sue is everything Elizabeth wanted to be: her body is devoid of flaws, her face is unnaturally smooth, and her confidence is through the roof.
The main setback is that Elizabeth and Sue have to switch who has control every week without fail. They are the same person, so neither can exist at the same time. During Elizabeth’s weeks, she watches TV, bored out of her mind, but during Sue’s weeks, she is constantly working to appeal to the executives’ desires.
This push and pull causes the two sides of Elizabeth Sparkle to grow resentment towards each other, making her inner hatred grow outside of herself. Sue starts taking more and more time from Elizabeth, destroying Elizabeth’s body in the process. This is how The Substance takes the internal struggle of body dysmorphia and gives it a horrifying face.
Elizabeth’s need to become the perfect version of herself slowly kills her, all culminating in a comically horrific final act. She forgets they are one and the same.
Why is this Movie Important?
Like most people my age, I have a complex relationship with my body. It can be easy to poke fun at my perceived flaws, especially because so many other pieces of media do the same thing. It has become grossly normalized to hate aspects of one’s body, and this movie forced me to realize that.
I will never forget the way Demi Moore’s performance made me feel: I laughed, I cried, and, most of all, I gagged. Watching her character look at herself in the mirror the same way I do slapped me across the face and reminded me to appreciate my physical appearance. The film grabbed me, shook me by the shoulders, and told me I was lucky to be alive. I will never forget the imprint this movie had on my mind, made even more impactful because it scared the living hell out of me.
Now, when I look in the mirror and catch myself dissecting the shape of my nose or the wrinkles of my eyes, I remember that’s how Elizabeth Sparkle’s journey began.
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