bruceVaK’s review published on Letterboxd:
Emphasizing on the hypermodern state of Hollywood where everything has to be pitch perfect where colours are either orange or yellow or bright or completely dark, induce no subtleties in between, induce no nuance, no valuable artistry but directly absorbable consumer crap, the road along which causes this unreal beauty standard and standard of greed within the industry causing the ultimate distortion of self, A poison that spreads day in and day out through our eyes. What starts as a star ends as a destroyed, dissatisfied puddle of disgust that perishes, loathing it's own existence cause that's what this poison does. It makes 'you' into an 'it' for success.
The Substance captures this with such ease, with the use of satire and one dimensional characters throughout the protagonists environment, embuing this 'need' to stay 'relevant', 'stay fresh', 'stay beautiful', when all of these features can exist from within a person.
The director Coralie Fargeat, clearly brings forward all her influences in this movie where all of them feel highlighted at one point or the other through the themes of story, through the brilliant camera work and lighting, through the colours and finally through the prosthetics and make up. Cronenberg's Grotesqueness, Haneke's themes of estrangement of self and consumerism, lynch's surrealism, Carpenter's use of practical effects and prosthetics within a vibrant energetic score. This is Body Horror at it's FINEST.
