OBSERVER: Rourke’s Reviews
The Substance
(R). 140 minutes. Now available on Blu-ray and DVD.
With its incredible word-of-mouth which has lead to a huge following and wonderful awards attention (including at this year’s Oscars), this is superb, provocative film-making.
But a word of warning first; this new film from Coralie Fargeat (whose excellent debut 2017 feature, Revenge, had a similarly divisive impression on audiences) will not be for everyone, but those who tap into the writer/director’s wavelength, will be rewarded with a ferociously, and gorily, entertaining horror/comedy/satire, one which takes no prisoners from its first frame to the last.
Demi Moore plays Elizabeth Sparkle, a once A List actress who now keeps viewer attention through a popular, Jane Fonda style daytime workout show and product commercials.
After taping one particular episode, Elizabeth overhears a conversation with TV executive Harvey (an especially grotesque Dennis Quaid), who is about to fire her because she is ‘too old’ at 50. Once officially given the news of her departure by Harvey, Elizabeth is involved in a car accident, and while being medically treated at hospital, first encounters someone who may have something secret to offer.
Via a USB slipped into her jacket pocket, Elizabeth is introduced to a procedure known as ’The Substance’, where, if the potential client follows a set of strict rules, will be able to create a younger version of herself.
Feeling a deep sense of self-loathing as the industry turns on her, Elizabeth takes up the mysterious offer, which will lead to Sue (Margaret Qualley) entering her life.
But this symbiotic relationship will lead both down a very dark path. The Substance is a film that is relentless, exhausting and overwhelming.
Fargeat forgoes subtlety in favour of pummelling her audience, tackling subject matter that has been a major issue for women for decades and decades, and the sense of anger and outrage is always on display, entwined with a dark sense of humour.
Working with cinematographer Benjamin Kracun (Promising Young Woman, Beast), production designer Stanislas Reydellet (The Mad Woman’s Ball) and costume designer Emmanuelle Youch-novski (Mascarade), Fargeat Gaspar Noe, Terry Gilliam and David Cronenberg. There is also a propulsive, highly effective music score by Raffertie.
Fargeat’s script gets a real shot in the arm with the casting of Moore, someone whose own career has mirrored Elizabeth’s, with her looks being deemed more important than any acting ability, and she fully commits, knowingly moving between the humour and horror of the material.
Qualley is also terrific, and both completely trust Fargeat’s vision. Some may say that Fargeat doesn’t know when to quit, allowing the film to go on longer than is necessary, but when the film-making is as genuinely passionate as this, and delivered with such striking skill, one can accept a director’s indulgence, which here is totally deserved.
The Substance is truly something to behold, but be prepared for a graphically wild ride. I just hope that it doesn’t take another seven years for Fargeat to make her next film.
RATING – *****
A Hidden Life
(PG) (2019). 174 minutes. Now available on DVD.
With The Way Of The Wind still in the editing process, now is the time (particularly with what’s currently happening around the world) to revisit Terrence Malick’s most recent film, A Hidden Life.
Set in the early 1940’s, the story centres on Franz and Fani Jagertatter (August Diehl and Valerie Pachner), an Austrian couple who earn a living as farmers. The effects of war are getting closer, with young men sent to training camps so they can be ready to serve Hitler at a moment’s notice. When all Austrians are asked to swear an oath to Hitler, Franz refuses, as he rejects the leader’s monstrous beliefs and predilection for war, and as time goes on, his fellow neighbours begin to turn on him, as toxic, pure blood nationalism starts to stain and distort their way of thinking.
Franz’s pacifist views will soon put him and his family in harm’s way. Fans wholly appreciate the director’s fearless, free-form approach. Like all of his films, A Hidden Life is extraordinary to look at. It really says something about Malick’s lengthy, meticulous editing process when one of the cast members is Michael Nyqvist (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), who passed away in June 2017. A Hidden Life probably won’t win Terrence Malick any new admirers, but for those who cherish his unique, heartfelt vision, A Hidden Life may be seen as one of this film-maker’s best artistic endeavours.
RATING – *****
Aaron Rourke