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In The Substance, director Coralie Fargeat takes a surreal and blood-soaked approach to explore themes of identity, self-destruction, and societal pressure. The film follows Elisabeth (Demi Moore), an aging actress who, desperate to salvage her career, takes an experimental serum that has bizarre and dangerous side effects. This serum causes Elisabeth to birth a younger, dependent version of herself, Sue (Margaret Qualley), who must drain a “stabiliser” fluid from Elisabeth’s spine to survive. This twisted dynamic between the two ultimately leads to Sue killing Elisabeth in her quest for independence.
When Sue, unable to sustain herself, resorts to injecting more serum, the film takes its most grotesque turn. She gives birth to Monstro Elisasue, a monstrous fusion of herself and Elisabeth, who then hosts a New Year’s show and continues to mutate, culminating in a shocking scene where she violently sprays the audience with blood. According to Fargeat, this moment is a statement on societal complicity in the exploitation and objectification of women, particularly those in the entertainment industry. By showering the audience in blood, the film confronts viewers with the violence they metaphorically project onto performers, turning it back on them as a form of reckoning.
Demi Moore views Sue’s transformation into this monstrous figure as a metaphorical liberation, a twisted reclaiming of her identity freed from societal constraints. In shedding her human form, Sue breaks free from the “prison” of her body and finds purity in who she truly is, detached from external expectations. Margaret Qualley adds that it’s in her monstrous form that Sue, for the first time, experiences self-acceptance and love, suggesting that embracing one’s imperfections—even in their most grotesque form—can lead to genuine liberation.
The Substance ultimately serves as a dark and visually arresting commentary on identity, self-image, and societal pressures, using horror and body mutation as metaphors for the struggle of self-acceptance and the effects of external objectification.
