By Jorge Ignacio Castillo

The Substance (USA, 2024. Dir: Coralie Fargeat): Following a relatively muted response at the North American box office (US$16 million, compared to 29 million abroad), The Substance hits streaming and on-demand services. It still packs a punch and seems designed to send your in-laws running during the holidays (“what about this movie, The Substance? Nothing says middlebrow like Demi Moore.”)

The Best Script winner at Cannes this year presents us with this conundrum: what if we could be young again, but every other week? It’s painful, it’s dangerous, but you’ll look like a million bucks.

Elisabeth (Moore, delivering one of those performances people love calling “brave”) agrees to the bargain. She’s an actress-turned-fitness maven who has given her physical appearance all the weight in her decision-making process and now is failing her. Given the opportunity of being young again, Elisabeth takes it, never mind the multiple red herrings.

The procedure, packeted like a meal delivery service, involves birthing your younger self and trust ‘the other’ to take care of your body on the weeks off. The basic principle behind the technique is “two bodies, one person”. Unfortunately for Elisabeth, Sue (Margaret Qualley) —her younger self— turns out to be a brat and absconds of her responsibilities. But two can play that game…

Because the message of The Substance is so obvious (guess what kids, love yourself as you are or expect a life of misery and dissatisfaction), Fargeat has a lot of fun with the concept. Demi Moore’s body endures the agony of hell. In turn, Margaret Qualley embodies the arrogance of youth to perfection. Nothing can prepare you for the outcome of the inevitable faceoff, so I won’t spoil it here.

For all the things The Substance does right (world building, the depiction of the male gaze as inherently toxic, Dennis Quaid as a coked-out TV executive), the film is so detached viewers may have a hard time getting emotionally invested. It’s more like watching an alien nature documentary about the lengths humans would go to remain forever young. 3 ½ stars (out of five).

The Substance is now available on demand and in MUBI.