FILM REVIEW: THE SUBSTANCE

★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆ (4/10)

Coralie Fargeat's The Substance is a bold experiment that ultimately collapses under its own weight. Clocking in at a bloated 141 minutes, the film tries to juggle satire, body horror, and social commentary but never fully succeeds in any of these areas. While the premise—a fading celebrity seeking rejuvenation through a black-market drug—brims with potential, the execution often feels superficial and overly long.

Demi Moore gives a committed performance as the aging actress discarded by a cutthroat Hollywood system. Her desperation and vulnerability anchor the film’s more engaging moments, but even her talents can’t salvage a script that leans too heavily on caricature. Her producer, Harvey (played by Dennis Quaid), is an unmissable nod to Harvey Weinstein, serving as a critique of misogyny and Hollywood’s obsession with female beauty. However, the character is so exaggerated that he often feels more cartoonish than menacing, which undercuts the film’s satirical edge.

The transformation into her younger self, played by Margaret Qualley, evokes echoes of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, as the duality of identity and ambition spirals into chaos. While the body horror elements are effective in their grotesqueness, they lack the psychological nuance needed to elevate them beyond shock value. The film’s thematic exploration of self-optimization and the cost of societal ideals is intriguing but repetitive, making the runtime feel unnecessarily stretched.

There are moments where The Substance hints at brilliance—particularly in its critique of the relentless pursuit of youth and perfection—but these flashes are overshadowed by a lack of focus. The satire often feels heavy-handed, the pacing drags, and the storytelling misses opportunities to delve deeper into its characters and themes.

At 141 minutes, the film’s length becomes its Achilles’ heel, turning what could have been a sharp, incisive narrative into a drawn-out slog. Despite a standout performance from Moore and the occasional compelling idea, The Substance feels like a missed opportunity—a film with a lot to say but little finesse in how it says it.

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