Coraline Fargeat and Julia Docournau are very much on parallel tracks. Two French female writer/directors with promising debut features, both released 2nd films – Titane and The Substance – that went onto a level of critical and awards success that’s jaw-dropping because both films are among the most explicit I’ve ever seen. I can’t believe the features weren’t heavily censored or released Unrated, and I can’t believe Titane won the Palme d’Or at Cannes while The Substance was nominated for 5 Oscars including Best Picture.
I like The Substance a lot, seen it multiple times. It rocks… but it’s gross. Obviously, I watch a lot of Horror films, but this is one of the most extreme. I get that’s by design. Everything about the film is cranked several notches higher: the sets, the costumes… Demi Moore’s character is named Elisabeth Sparkle. For some people, the most gross moment is the way Dennis Quaid eats shrimp, up close and slurpy. It’s an incredible poppy pink world and the way Fargeat’s camera leers at Moore and Margaret Qualley surpasses any “male gaze”.
The film is dizzying for two-hours, and finds space to go even further at the climax. Perhaps too far, but I’m speaking more from shock than from narrative sense. It had to keep pushing. It could only end in the most outrageous way. I just can’t believe how well it worked, both as a storytelling approach and audiences reacting to it. David Cronenberg is the king of Body Horror, but this may be the best Body Horror film.
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