Rating: 9/10

Major spoilers ahead.

I’m willing to bet any amount of money against anyone’s guess as to how this movie ends — they’ll lose the money. 

In accordance with the marketing of this movie, I urge anyone willing to test their limits to try  “The Substance,” Coralie Fargeat’s latest feat. Winner of the Best Screenplay Award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival — and for good reason — this film torments you from beginning till end in one of the best body horror films of the 2020s. 

Contemplations of self-worth make aging star Elizabeth Sparkle, played by Demi Moore, order The Substance, a cutting-edge serum that when injected creates a new, “younger, better version” of herself named Sue, played by Margaret Qualley. 

The catch: They must switch bodies every seven days, no matter what.

Sue is everything that Elizabeth wants to be, taking over Elizabeth’s old job and rising to stardom. However, Sue is overcome with greed and begins to abuse The Substance. Rather than let Elizabeth switch back to recover, Sue leeches every last drop of Elizabeth’s life fluid. Despite Elizabeth’s body becoming shriveled and grotesque, Sue ignores the harm she’s inflicting. 

In this meditation on beauty standards, Fargeat begs the question: Can beauty truly bring happiness?

Fargeat has been in the horror-thriller conversation since her last directorial effort “Revenge,” but she goes to new and higher places with this film. Launching a full-blown sensory assault on the audience, every scene pushes how much gore you can take, an exercise of toleration in visual pain and agony. From a birthed adult to pulled teeth and even blood spewed from a decapitated head onto a sea of people, Fargeat’s aggressive style of close-ups and electronic music fits this world well; she constantly stuffs the frame with grotesqueness and suddenly withdraws it, allowing the audience to unpack what they have just seen only to do the same thing over and over again. 

Cheers and standing ovations must be given to Moore for her performance — believe the hype. 

At 61 years of age, she puts on one of the best performances in a horror film since Toni Collette in “Hereditary,” and that’s not a comparison to be taken lightly. Being asked to shapeshift into a creature that looks like a hunchback Gothmog is something not every actress as high profile as her would want to do, but she’s able to execute while reserving the sincerity of her character.

Unfortunately, she will go into the “Performances Snubbed for an Oscar Because It Was in a Horror Movie” category, which is tragic — Academy, prove me wrong, please. 

The genius in this film lies in its screenplay. Balancing a thin wire act of shocking horror and satirical commentary on women’s beauty standards is a line many wouldn’t even consider walking, but Fargeat does so with ease. She approaches her feminist commentary with such vigor that there is no question of what her intentions are. 

And it’s funny too! 

As much as I was terrified, the film was expertly interspersed with extremely comedic parts — though this might just be my coping mechanism for dealing with frightening visuals. It’s clear this movie didn’t forget about having fun, but it did so in such a way as to enhance its themes, not break away from them. 

While this movie is about women exclusively, I would also love to acknowledge the use of men in this film. There seems to be a consistent thread across all of Fargeat’s feature films: Men are bad. As a man, she makes a very compelling argument for her claim. 

While they may not be physically present, male presence looms largely over just about every scene. Everything that the main characters do is caused by the negative influence of men in their lives, specifically Harvey, played by a disgustingly marvelous Dennis Quaid. Fargeat constructs this story with the patriarchy in mind but uses feminism as the driving force to tell the story — it’s sheer brilliance. 

My only criticism is that the ending could’ve been shorter. 

While the ending is absolutely harrowing yet genius — long live Monstro Elisasue! — it feels like Fargeat wanted to beat us across the head 30 different times about the same thing. We get it, let’s move on. 

But that could also be considered the genius of the ending. In our world where we’re constantly  told that unrealistic beauty standards are not OK, we still see models with borderline anorexia being praised and lauded for a body not everyone can have. The point seems to not have been made enough, clearly. This exaggerated message repeated over and over again is a blunt reminder of what this is really about: being content with what you have.

Ultimately though, this film is not for the weak-hearted. 

Many people were squirming in their seats, drawing their knees and blankets to their faces throughout the grueling two-hour runtime.  But I believe — and hope — everyone will watch it anyway. Genre works well when applicable to reality, and this film is a raw feminist portrayal of beauty.

With such top-notch body horror, it’s no wonder “The Substance” will undoubtedly be in the conversation for best movies of the year. 

Joshua Abraham is a kinesiology junior and opinion writer for The Battalion.