It's about a woman who is a TV star, Elisabeth, played by Demi Moore, who is about to get fired because she is 'too old' for the ratings war and they need a 'younger model'. As she flees the studio, she ends up in an RTA, then A&E where a doctor slips her a thumb-drive. When she gets home she fires it up and it's an advert for The Substance, which claims to regenerate the body of the person who enters into the treatment, creating a new-them, younger, better looking, stronger etc. She takes it on!
The opening gore-scene is then a transformation, where 'Sue', played by Margaret Qualley, appears from the spine of the (now naked) Elisabeth and she is, indeed, a younger version. The catch in the treatment, which involves all sorts of injecting of serums and drawing off of bodily fluids throughout, is that the two 'people' have to share the 'consciousness' time, a week each. While the other one rests and gets injected with food, the other can play. So Sue goes after the now vacant job that Elisabeth had - and guess what? She gets it!
This is where it all gets a bit tricky because the two individuals when it's their turn to be out and about, don't want to take a turn not being out and about - so start to not follow the rules that the treatment dictates they must, in order for it to work properly. So this is the point at which it goes pear-shaped and the treatment starts to go wrong, having a negative impact, ultimately on both of their bodies. Keeping up?!
Then the film races into a ludicrous gore-fest, off and on, whilst making some statements about fame, fortune, publicity, the media and hype, focussed on the vanity of a star who can't accept that her time has come and the 'system' dictating that she gracefully moves over for a younger replacement - because 'that is what the public want'. As spelled out by studio boss Harvey, played with great fun and ruthlessness by Dennis Quaid.
Through all this silliness, the film seems to be able to maintain a tragic seriousness about the tale, somehow! The stage is set for a battle between two 'characters' who don't seem able to co-exist, follow the rules and know what's good for them. They just want the fame and limelight for themselves. Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley play their parts brilliantly well throughout (and we certainly see plenty of both of them, as most of the transformation/treatment scenes are done in the buff)!
It's also mostly shot in an art-farty way with cinematography interesting and sets supporting that with bright colours, decor and premises layouts being mostly a feast for the eyes. There's so much here to unpick in the 2 hours 20 minutes, which absolutely flew by for me, that you really should try to unpick it yourself. It's often silly, but always interesting and often jaw-dropping in tone. The finale is complete bonkers and great fun, so don't give up! Loved it. It's just arrived on Mubi, or you can still see it at the cinema - and I imagine that it would be great on the big screen!
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