The Substance will likely leave you conflicted. The first hour or so is exactly what cinema should be – daring, original, engaging.
The second half of the film isn’t necessarily worse, but your opinion of it will depend on your tolerance for gore.
Qualley herself highlights that, in an age where many acclaimed directors are making “quiet, intimate films”, she likes how this one “smashes you over the head”.
Some reviews have awarded the film five stars, including the Telegraph’s Tim Robey, who wrote:, external “The Substance is a humdinger of a satirical horror-thriller, by turns hilarious, affecting and jaw-droppingly grotesque.”
“The Substance will get you thinking, talking and squirming,” added Rolling Stone’s Anna Smith., external “Body horror [is pushed] to the limit, daring the viewer to keep looking rather than hide, wretch or even vomit – all reactions are entirely feasible.”
Not everybody was a fan. Kevin Maher of the Times called the film, external “puerile, pointless and intellectually specious”, noting that some audience members walked out of the Cannes Film Festival screening.
Issues of taste aside, Moore and Qualley turn in arguably the best performances of their respective careers, with Moore especially impressive as Sparkle descends into madness.
Fargeat says that, when she met Moore: “I got to know a lot more of who she was as a person, what she had overcome in her own life to get to a place where she felt strong enough and good enough with herself to confront all this vulnerability.
“I felt she really understood what I was going to request from her. The filmmaking, the level of risk-taking, nudity, and she was ready to take those risks.”
