Remember to Love Yourself – The Substance (Movie Review)

“If you follow the instructions, what could go wrong?

A fading celebrity decides to use a black market drug, a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself.” – Letterboxd Synopsis

I remember seeing the trailer for this movie when I went to go see Beatlejuice Beatlejuice and immediately I, and a good amount of people around me in the theatre were taken aback. It was loud, very in your face with its messaging, almost laughably so and a bit cartoonish, but it had me interested. Now that I’ve finally gotten around to seeing it, I can say that, yeah, it is 100% all of those things and more. What looked like a whacky ass movie from the trailer is easily one of m favorites of the year and something I won’t be forgetting for a long time.

This movie has one theme that it makes very, very clear. It is about substance abuse. It’s the title. The trailer focuses on it a lot. The movie focuses on it a lot. But there’s more to it than that, a lot more. Really at the heart of it, this movie is about the perceived notion of woman having expiration dates. It’s about body dysmorphia. It’s about the unrealistic notion that someone can stay a celebrity forever. It’s about blatant objectification of young women. It’s about how men are allowed to be mediocre and women have to be stellar. And with that, how men feel like they can freely comment on a woman’s appearance looking while they themselves look however they want. This movie has two female leads that take up 90% of the screen time and yet most of the dialogue is taken up by men of different varieties of sleaze. A lot of this subject matter can be in your face and some of it is surprisingly subtle. All together, it is very well done.

The camera direction is amazing. The variety of shots wether they be: close, wide, panning, shaking. It’s all over the place, but it all works and all serves to not only enhance the gore and body horror elements when they happen but also make everything feel so anxious. I could feel the main character’s (Elizabeth’s) anxiety through the screen in every scene. On top of that, the use of colors is absolutely amazing. Everything is so bright and vibrant when it needs to be and dark and gloomy when it calls for it. I wanted to make a point of those two things first because they serve the theme and narrative of the story so well.

This story follows Elizabeth Sparkle, a famous tv fitness instructor who at one point was at the top of celebrity. Awards, billboards, a star on the walk of fame. Now she is older, still very much beautiful, but getting pushed out of her role on her 50th birthday because the network wants a “younger and hotter” woman for the role. That same day, she gets into a car crash that leads her to the E.R. where a young male nurse becomes her stepping stone to the substance.

Immediately I want to say Demi More who plays Elizabeth Sparkle is a gorgeous woman. Which hammers home the many points of this movie even more. It is deliberate that she is the only older woman in this movie. Every shot where people are clearly shown its men of all ages, shapes and sizes, but only young gorgeous women. Which only adds to her anxiety and body dysmorphia. There are constant reminders of how young and attractive she used to be and even people who are being “nice” to her constantly bring up her looks and stardom. She does such a good job portraying how everything is effecting her and how she ends up needing Sue, this physical representation of everything that the world has told her she is no longer. I absolutely love how this movie uses colors to reinforce its themes. Elizabeth feels almost bogged down and anxious by all the vibrant colors surrounding her while one of the first shots of Sue is her basking in the sun and every scene. It is like she is fully embracing everything.

The friction between the two characters is amazing as well. Sue is a constant reminder of what Elizabeth was to the world. Elizabeth is a constant reminder of what Sue doesn’t want to be. The main flaw of the substance (as in the drug not the movie) is that the provider preaches that two are one and to respect the balance of the drug cause both bodies need each other but that is the exact reason why it becomes so abused. Two independent sides of the same mind. Elizabeth needs sue to feel young and pretty again, but hates how she has replaced her. Sue needs to Elizabeth to live, but hates how her life is tethered to, in her eyes, such a useless thing. Once things start really going down and the balance really starts to get disrespected, it is a treat to watch from a writing and story perspective but also a bit hard to watch cause the gore and special effects are just so good.

I don’t really watch body horror at all, but man, if there is anything else as good as this, I might have to. Simply put, in a movie full of award-winning worthy aspects, the visuals are the best aspect of this movie by a mile. When shit starts getting morphed, when body parts start changing and things that shouldn’t be happening start happening. I genuinely was covering my eyes and screaming a bit at some parts. It was awesome.

So yeah, with all of these themes and messages set on the table, this movie tackles them all pretty much excellently. There are some parts that get a bit too goofy and cartoonish but it never derails anything, and it plays into its funny moments very well cause this movie is also very funny. The acting is great; the direction was great, this movie is great. And I want to say that yes, it does focus on the woman aspect of things a lot, but it does take a step back briefly to give us some of the other side. But first and foremost, this movie is about women and the effects of celebrity and overall societal norms can have on their mental health. I just hope the main takeaway from this movie is that these societal beauty standards are made up trash. It’s okay to grow old, we all do and growing older is beautiful in its own way. We deserve to exist as we grow older. As hard as it can be to see, the version of yourself today is beautiful, just like the you yesterday, and the you tomorrow will be too. Ironically, in the movie Sue says this, but it’s true and should be taken to heart, “remember to love yourself.”

The Substance – 9/10

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Notes – I didn’t really know where to fit this in above, but genuinely, the mirror scene that’s in the trailer is one of the most powerful scenes I’ve seen this year. Like it works well as a trailer moment, but it just hits so hard in the context of where it’s at in the movie.