Jan 8

Jan 8 THE SUBSTANCE: AGING HAS NEVER BEEN SO TORTUROUS

Every time the 'body horror' genre came to miind, the only thing I could think of was “Trouble Every Day” (2001) by the wonderful Claire Denis, now the synonym of this genre is undoubtedly “The Substance” by the great Coralie Fargeat, which I have not yet fully digested. Demi Moore won the Golden Globe last Sunday for her colossal character of 'Elisabeth Sparkle', a beautiful 50-year-old retired actress who has spent decades being a fitness instructor on a famous television show called “Sparkle Your Life with Elisabeth”.

The unpleasant executive of the channel decides that her expiration date has come and throws her out to replace her with a younger and more vigorous instructor. Elisabeth can't stand this and becomes imbued with uncontrollable frustration, but then she discovers a way to change her life completely. A stranger whispers to her about a mysterious treatment called The Substance, which comes in a box full of syringes and liquids. Once administered, The Substance promises that “a better version of yourself” will emerge. This much younger and more glamorous version is embodied by Margaret Qualley, whom Demi Moore gave birth to on her own back after having been injected with the substance. Her name is ‘Sue’, a beautiful creature who is given the coveted fitness television show and, becoming much more famous than Elisabeth Sparkle, is proposed to be the girl who announces the arrival of the New Year on television.

The more Sue lives life, the more withered Elizabeth becomes, but whatever is necessary to keep her ego at the heights of fame, this whole experience culminates in a bloody, prolonged and exaggerated festival, surpassing great film endings such as Brian de Palma’s Carrie, a satirical ode to superficial feminine beauty, to the obsession with eternal youth as we have rarely seen in films as powerful as this one.

I never thought that great masterpieces could be created in the crazy times we live in, but the plot is so exaggerated that it sometimes merges with palpable reality.