What is The Substance about​?

The Substance is a horror film directed by Coralie Fargeat. The film was first released on May 19, 2024, at the Cannes Film Festival where Coralie Fargeat won the award for Best Screenplay. Later the film was released theatrically on September 20, 2024. The film revolves around Elisabeth Sparkle, a former popular actress struggling with the downfall of her career and stardom. She faces the pressures of aging in Hollywood. The movie explores ideas about beauty, wanting to stay young forever, and the problems that come with being famous.

The Substance stars a talented cast including Demi Moore as Elisabeth Sparkle, Margaret Qualley as a younger version of Elizabeth, and Dennis Quaid as Harvey, a television producer. The film has been nominated for various prestigious awards, including 5 Academy Awards, 5 BAFTA Awards, 5 Golden Globe Awards, and it won a Golden Globe. People have praised the movie for its cinematography and strong horror scenes. It also gives a sharp and clever view of how society is obsessed with youth and beauty standards.

What Is The Substance about?

The story of the film revolves around Elisabeth Sparkle, a former actress. She was one of the popular Hollywood stars in her prime. As she celebrated her 50th birthday, she is told that she is being dismissed from her long-running aerobics TV show because of her age. She was disturbed by the news, ran into an accident and ended up in the hospital. In the hospital she came across a flash drive with “The Substance” written over it.

"The Substance" is a black-market serum that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of oneself. In her desperation she decides to try it, as she has nothing to lose. After using the serum, Elisabeth rapidly shakes and changes. A younger version of her, named Sue, comes out from her back. Sue is beautiful, young, full of energy, confident, and quickly becomes popular.

Elisabeth and Sue must take turns living in the same body, switching every seven days. The resting body stays asleep and gets fluids to survive. Sue needs a special liquid from Elisabeth’s body to stay healthy. As Sue becomes famous and takes over Elisabeth’s TV show, Elisabeth feels lonely and jealous. Sue stops following the switching rules, which makes Elisabeth age quickly. Their relationship gets worse, and they start fighting. Both struggle to take control of their shared body, leading to arguments and desperate actions.

The Substance ending explained

As the movie continues, it is shown that Elisabeth and Sue’s fight gets worse. Sue refuses to follow the rule of switching and making Elisabeth age even faster. Desperate to stop Sue, Elisabeth gets a special serum to remove her forever.

However, Elisabeth is still greedy for the attention and admiration that Sue has. She decides to bring Sue back to life. Now, both are awake at the same time. When Sue realizes that Elisabeth tried to kill her, she becomes angry and violently kills Elisabeth.

Sue became desperate and tried using the serum again, but it didn't work. This causes her body to turn into a horrible, deformed creature that is half Sue and half Elisabeth. The monster, now called "Monstro Elisasue," tries to continue Elisabeth’s career but scares everyone. The crowd sees the monster and panics. The monster’s body gets worse and falls apart. In the end, it completely breaks down outside the theater and its remains melt onto Elisabeth’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The ending shows how dangerous it is to be obsessed with beauty and staying young. In an interview with Elle, Coralie Fargeat, the director of the film, explained what she wanted to show in the film and said, “I felt the need to express all this regarding how you are seen and what your body looks like. You keep comparing yourself and evaluating your value based on that. And I said, ‘Okay, this is the right time for me to take the horror genre to express this violence.’”