Dance, ten, looks, three
It’s like to die!
Left the theater and called the doctor
For my appointment to buy

Tits and ass
Bought myself a fancy pair
Tightened up the derriere
Did the nose with it, all that goes with it

Tits and ass
Had the bingo-bongos done
Suddenly I’m getting national tours
Tits and ass won’t get you jobs unless they’re yours

(Dance: Ten, Looks: Three, A Chorus Line)

If anyone knows how to showcase Agency, Transformation and Bloody Violence as a metaphor, it’s Coralie Fargeat. The Substance has taken Cannes, Edinburgh, New Zealand, Toronto and FrightFest by storm. The Supers slash across the screen as the trailer rolls along: “A seamless takedown of absurd beauty standards”, “The most sickly entertaining experience of the year”, An enraged scream in cinematic form”, “The performance of Demi Moore’s career”, “Margaret Qualley is sensational”, Fargeat’s vision is immense”, “An epic, audacious masterpiece”. And you know what? I agree with all of it. The epic takedown – yes, girl, give us everything, the enraged scream – two middle fingers up, Fargeat’s vision – chef’s kiss, the discord – girl, what?

I spent over 20 years working in the Aesthetics industry. The fountain of youth, turning back the clock, diminishing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles was my stock and trade. It was up to me to make sure that not only was skin health important but so was age-prevention because Dear God, anything but aging.

Society has made it almost impossible to age gracefully, with dignity, no intervention and surely, no feedback. We’ve forced women into a time capsule where youth is rewarded and aging and life experience gets the proverbial head pat. Goldie Hawn’s character Elise Elliot of The First Wives Club said it best, “There are only three ages for women in Hollywood: babe, district attorney, or Driving Miss Daisy“. And it’s not just Hollywood, it’s virtually every industry. Youth is Queen. Periodt. Show me a front-facing industry where aging is rewarded, un-airbrushed, and centralized without pushback. The feminine beauty ideal has had our knees buckling since we stepped out of our training bras into that sweet GAP cotton bra from the adult section.

Where ‘The Substance’ succeeds is showing that what we allow continues. We’ve allowed society, mainly the patriarchy, to dictate our expiration date, our desirability scale, our weight bearrance, our pliability, our marketability and our level of dignity and self-confidence.

How many social media posts have you seen of a woman showing a younger version of herself saying, “I thought I was fat here.”, and it’s the picture of 110 pound child.

As someone who’s constantly wishing for the way my mind, face and body used to be, for someone who’s had that quick fix beauty industry access at her fingertips, for someone who’s had to talk women off the ledge of getting drastic procedures in different countries because their husband misses their “19-year-old ass” and won’t let them forget it, ‘The Substance’ saw what was in my heart, mind and soul and I’m grateful.

The film’s logline is as follows: A fading celebrity decides to use a black-market drug, a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself.

Simple enough. We’re looking at woman beaten by the aging rat race, resorting to getting the past back to feel relevance again. Could be anyone of us. And before you say not me, lose “drop the skincare, routine”, “drop the workout routine” and “inspiration pictures/dresses” out of your vocab. Elizabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore), a fixture on workout TV, is aging out and moving down the ladder, rung by rung. Her producer, Harvey (Dennis Quaid) has cordoned her to the discard pile, and is on the hunt for a fresh meat replacement. Desperate, the once-confident Elizabeth inspects every, wrinkle, crack, crevice and divot on her face and body, bringing Harvey’s chauvinistic comments to fruition. Through his cruelty, she’s fallen into the self-doubt trap every diminishing comment can bring us to – “maybe they’re right”. In her quest to get back on top, Elizabeth is ensnared by the marketing of ‘The Substance’, promising a “better version of yourself”. She makes the call, signs up and takes the dangerous back-alley to the promise land – a stark white safety deposit storage.

The step-by-step packaging and the rules seem easy enough: inject, switch, feed, switch repeat for (in the immortal words of Samara) “7 days”.

Sizzling to life is the young nubile “Sue” (Margaret Qualley), who makes quick work of starting Elizabeth’s twenty-something life from scratch. She lands the replacement role of Sparkle’s workout show, her gorgeous face and body are plastered everywhere and Hollywood opportunities abound. Everything Elizabeth – I mean, Sue could dream of. And dream she does – a bit too long. Sue gets greedy with the time, throwing off the substance’s delicate balance and creating havoc in their life. Shit hits the fan fast and here’s where Coralie Fargeat does not let up, the foot is planted firmly on our necks til the bitter end, and the cost of beauty, fame and relevance comes crashing down with the ultimate thud.

Even in color contrast, Elizabeth’s warm, muted, filtered tones speak of creating the “radiance” whereas Sue’s cherubic pink tones speak of the natural, rosy glow of youth – peak storytelling.

The themes in this film are superb, but as your friendly neighborhood aesthetician, the questions that stuck with me the most – How far will we go to turn back the clock and when is when actually when in terms of “that’s enough”?

How do we get to good when there’s always something to fix?

The possibilities for women to rejuvenate, renew, resurface, reinstate, reshape, prevent, delay, control, diminish, and preserve are overwhelming. The number of available plastic surgery options have more than doubled from 1999 to 2023 with the most popular being maxillofacial surgery, liposuction and “mommy makeovers” followed by “lifts”: butt, tummy, breast.

It’s important to note that BDD, Body Dysmorphic Disorder is a leading mental health concern for women and the pressures to look a certain way and maintain it, is being thrust upon girls younger and younger every year. It creates low self-esteem and depression, and can lead to unhealthy behaviors like excessive and fad dieting, over-exercising and muscle strain, and pursuing procedures that their body type and or personal health makeup cannot handle in a relentless pursuit of “perfection.”

Suffice to say this is in no way shaming the industry, OR anyone’s want for such treatments or procedures. Underline that, underscore it, quote it. Look good, feel good.

It’s all a byproduct of following the still booming trend: The societal need to change anything about ourselves that people deem undesirable or “fixable”. Terms like “natural makeup”, & “clean girl aesthetic” is a cultural nod to knowing that we can find women attractive if we try and if highlighting these themes feels incendiary, it should, we should be taking things that make us feel shitty to task, through as many mediums as we can. Do we have something similar to The Substance in visual form? Yes, and it’s been here since 2013: FaceTune.

Forbes: From ‘Instagram Face’ To ‘Snapchat Dysmorphia’: How Beauty Filters Are Changing The Way We See Ourselves

I have lived through the constant pressure (usually from the never-ending swirl of compare and contrast) of unattainable beauty standards, so the relatability for me was off the charts. Beauty and the quest for it is gnarly, gross, heartbreaking and putrid. Fargeat masterfully breaks down the oppressive hold that these societal ideals have on women, showing how far we’ll go to regain our sense of self-worth to not only ourselves but society as a whole – as society rewards those they deem worthy – all at the cost of our physical and mental health. It’s a jolting, finger-pointing and unflinching look at the sacrifices we make to attain these standards – a feeling most of us keep to ourselves.

Fargeat’s body horror breadbasket is a winner. She understands the inner dialogue that happens within many of us, we’re all part of the big validation hamster wheel. The need for external validation is something an entire generation (weaponized through social media) has been raised on, and if this film feels divisive, then it can only stand to reason that the illusions of beauty that society has thrust upon us have successfully done their job, and so has Fargeat: shining a light on the deeply entrenched societal norms make us feel like being the “best you” will always come with a price, a deprivation or a barter.

THE SUBSTANCE HITS CINEMAS SEPTEMBER 20TH

Mo Moshaty is a horror writer, lecturer and producer. As a Cognitive Behavioral Therapist and life long horror fan, Mo has lectured with Prairie View A&M Film & TV Program as a Keynote, BAFSS Horror Studies Sig  and The University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom. Mo has partnered with horror giant, Shudder Channel, to co-produce the 13 Minutes of Horror Film Festival 2021 and 2022 with Nyx Horror Collective and her literary work “Love the Sinner” was published with Brigid’s Gate Press in July of 2023 and her two volume collection, “Clairviolence: Tales of Tarot and Torment will be published with Tenebrous Press in 2025. 
Mo is the creator and Editor-in-Chief of NightTide Magazine and the Founder of Mourning Manor Media.