La sustancia

The Substance had the potential to be a gripping commentary on beauty and the grotesque, but it relies too much on excessive gore to deliver its message. The film's visual effects are impressive, but the horror becomes repetitive and gratuitous, detracting from the deeper themes it initially sets up. Rather than building tension, the shock value feels forced and overdone, leaving the story lacking in impact.

While there are moments of brilliance in its direction and performance, particularly from Demi Moore, the film doesn't capitalize on its strong start. The unnecessary violence overshadows the nuanced points about vanity and societal expectations, making the film feel hollow. A 5 out of 10 reflects its strong visuals but missed narrative potential.

The better version of you is you. Not to be someone else nor someone younger or prettier. I like the message that packed in sarcastic way. At the end of the day, you need to choose, your own beauty or beauty with the monster within. Getting older and not pretty anymore is natural. Getting less famous and attractive is the consequences of life. Be grateful of what you have, and being not satisfy with what we have, only will lead us to the disaster. And remember karma does exist. You plant flowers, you will see the beauty. So, it is worth to watch. You will not see scary thing if you understand the message.

Every scene of this film wowed me at TIFF. The casting, atmosphere, visual and sound design, music, and, of course, the symbolism of it all.

Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley couldn't have been more perfectly cast as leads. Their devotion to the process and trust in their director was clear to me. Their vulnerability pulls this off and leads to a very compelling fever dream.

Everyone involved should be really proud of this film. To me, it's a future cult classic.

It is body/psychological horror, so don't expect jump scares. It's deeper than that. I found myself getting lost in reflection during the film (as a 47 year old woman it really spoke to me).

But it's also extremely fun to watch!

Take it seriously as a true work of art, but don't at the same time, and you'll have a blast.

This movie really stuck with me for a while and was thought provoking. Luckily at the grotesque bits I was looking away so I wasn't plagued by nightmares like the other person I watched it with. There are very graphic scenes, but I feel it added to the campiness and I didn't see the really gross ones. The message was clear cut and necessary in this day and age. My only real question that I never felt was addressed was how separate and connected their minds were, overall they both acted as entirely separate beings and I thought part of the point was that they were the same being but the disconnect between the characters mentally and their actions and how they affected each other was surprising.

If you truly listen to The Substance, what it's saying is that the industries we rely on for many things - our entertainment, our wellbeing, our connection to other people - are corrupted by unfounded fears of female aging, loss of beauty, and the next generation. Sure, it's an exaggerated and somewhat obvious film, but that doesn't make director Coralie Fargeat's point any less true - nor does it detract from the tremendously gory way in which she makes it. Elisabeth's story is a tragedy because those who are allowed to age are actually the lucky ones. To deprive yourself of that grace - physically, mentally, or both - in order to fulfill someone else's twisted goals is a fate which The Substance hopes no woman will ever have to suffer again.