The Substance (2024)

Documented on my first watch, I will get things inaccurate. Spoilers.

-Visual Content-

The visuals are probably the best part of the movie hands down. The visual effects team and all the details that went into this movie is incredible, I never got taken out of it.

Colour Theory: 3-4 main colours

1. Vibrant and neon colours.
   -Used for Elizabeth's and Sue's celebrity life.
   -Elizabeth's coat is bright yellow. Double egg yolks and the clay used USB's informational video is also bright yellow. Haha.
2. Muted oranges and reds.
   -Showing transitional periods and fading away.
   -The hallways of the building she shoots in. Her Hollywood star. When she covers her apartment in newspapers.
   -Muteness I interpreted as Elizabeth's washed up celebrity status, as well as her feeling duller/ugly/not at her prettiest.
   -Sue, opposite to Elizabeth, is vibrant pink!
3. White, light grey, and teal.
   -The cold medical scenes, like the doctors visit and the bathroom scenes.
4. Dark navy and black. Periods of deep self-hatred.
   -The room in the bathroom and nights mindlessly watching TV
   -The night when Elizabeth thinks about The Substance, the night is dark navy. But when she decides to fish it out of the trash, the movie embraces pure blacks.

The USB for the substance is black. & Elizabeth/Sue has dark hair. Is she destined to a life of self hatred?

THOUGH...
I can't quite put my finger on why The Substance is a bright neon green. It's not yellow or black to fit the rest of the packaging surrounding it, but instead GREEN. Vibrant colours represent celebrity life and beauty. Though, neon green is not used with Elizabeth or Sue, only as the substance. It is a sickly and slimy. The vibe I'm getting is a solution that is intuitively repulsive but brings one closer to their ideal but false, aesthetic self.

Metaphors/Imagery/etc.:

• Hallways as a descent. The walk down showing us the posters of Elizabeth over the years. The long, dark hallway in-between the bathroom and the rest of her apartment. The New Year's event where Sue is walking through the building, trying dodge people (predominantly men) to hide the fact her beauty is falling apart.
• ALSO hidden compartments? The bathroom wall, her entering the place to pick up the substance. I like how the door only opens halfway and she has to duck-down, representing how low of a point she's gotten to with her self-image.
• Shots of palm trees from a low angle, a distorted view of stardom. Which could be stretched into a distorted view of oneself, something Elizabeth is killing herself over in the movie.
• Billboards. A huge accomplishment, literally a landmark in the world. Though, the image is changed quickly. The visual change from Elizabeth to Sue is something Elizabeth has strived for. But the structure of the billboard is still there. Although her outwardly image is changed, Elizabeth's insecurity is something she'll never be able to get rid of. I'm sure I can phrase that a little better.
• Her name: Elizabeth Sparkle. Sparkle as a last name is such a good choice. A sparkle is pretty. But usually faux, tacky, plastic.

-Likes & Dislikes-

• My favourite part of the movie is her date with Fred. Complicated in my opinion, but a much more authentic connection than the pretty guys she only has sex with as Sue. Sue seems more like a girlboss in the way she just wants to succeed with a celebrity life style, on top of being young and attractive. Friends and relationships other than sex are out of the picture.
• Elizabeth has everything Sue has minus looks and lives a really lonely life already. Using the substance multiplies that feeling. So meeting up with Fred is out of desperation to fill the ever growing void.
• I'm REALLY glad the movie focuses more on Elizabeth hating herself rather than it saying "Wow this woman is obsessed with her looks therefore it makes a woman EVIL and HATE men" Out of the whole movie, her going back in the bathroom had my heart pumping the hardest. This was handled way better than it could've gone and I really appreciate the movie for that.
• Best shot was when her tooth falls out and lands in her hand. She stares at her closed fist. Though she clenches it for a few more seconds. She KNOWS what's in her hand, but doesn't want to look at it. Just great.
• Makeup and VFX were amazing. I was never taken out of the movie during the parts where it uses it.
• The tone was super patchy during the movie. It went from over-serving and self-aware, to really dark and serious, then to silly and surreal by the end. Just inconsistent and I'm not really sure of the purpose of it. Might be meta-commentary on the absurdity of celebrity life, or maybe the complicated highs and lows with trying to appeal to beauty standards, could be none of that and the director having fun. Either way, inconsistent and I didn't like it.
• Ending was... interesting. Pretty mixed on it. One side of me liked it for how gnarly and gross and pretty triumphant it was toward Elizabeth/Sue with overcoming beauty standards all together to embrace being a monster. Other side of me didn't like it because of the tone and how out of place it felt. Though I definitely see it being part of a different version of this movie, maybe where it's a lot more exaggerated, goofy and camp. I wouldn't have minded a camp The Substance to be honest.

Great movie, recommend.