“Most unrealistic thing”: Demi Moore’s ‘The Substance’ Is a Masterpiece Except for One Utterly Impractical Thing
- Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley's The Substance is one of the highly praised movies of 2024.
- Fans very subtly pointed out some of the most impractical things showcased in the movie.
- Playing Sue on-screen was challenging and isolating for Qualley.
One of the highly praised movies of 2024 included Coralie Fargeat’s body horror movie The Substance, starring Demi Moore, Dennis Quaid, and Margaret Qualley. The film follows the life of a fading actress who, after being fired due to her age, uses a black-market drug to create a younger version of herself. But the drug comes with unexpected side effects. The movie premiered at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Best Screenplay award and received high praise. It went on to receive an 11-minute standing ovation.
Upon release, the movie went on to be a commercial and critical success, not only receiving praise but also five nominations at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards. Critics and the audience have lauded Demi Moore’s performance in the movie as a fading celebrity. But fans also pointed out some of the most impractical things showcased in the film.
Despite success, fans cannot forget these unrealistic things in Demi Moore’s The Substance
The Substance is indeed one of the biggest and most successful movies that came out in 2024, which got people starting to talk about one’s relevance and appearance. Demi Moore starred as the fading celebrity, whereas Margaret Qualley starred as her younger, more beautiful, and more perfect version of ‘The Substance,’ a black market serum.
The movie goes on to feature n*dity, with plenty of hard-to-watch moments for the audience as the two women who share one consciousness inject themselves with the serum. In her conversation with Screen Daily, filmmaker Coralie Fargeat explains that society places expectations on individuals, especially when they’re women, and the pressure that makes them feel so badly if they don’t live up to them.
The French filmmaker revealed that while the idea for The Substance is something that was brewing for a long time, the narrative only took on another layer when she entered her 40s with ‘violent feelings for life. She added that she set out to make,
A feminist movie to open everyone’s eyes to these issues and say, ‘Enough already. Let’s put an end to this’. I felt this was the time for me to start thinking about making a movie with American partners while still preserving my way of doing things, which is very European.
During the conversation, she shared that The Substance is somewhere a mirror to her attempt to take control of her life and career. And her hard work has paid off well, as the movie has received massive success.
But at the same time, fans couldn’t help but point out some of the most unusual things that happened in the movie that would make the viewers chuckle and raise an eyebrow at the same time. A Reddit user wrote,
The most unrealistic thing in this movie is Sue doing that renovation project in 3 days.
Others agreed while stating that ‘matching, sourcing, and probably importing the tiles would have taken a couple of days at least. I don’t imagine they’re just off the shelf at Home Depot.’ Another user pointed out that, according to them, the unrealistic thing was the first few minutes when a dude who dropped the burger on Elisabeth’s star attempted to pick it up off the ground.
Just like these, there have been some subtle moments in the movie that are very hard to explain. But they are so subtle that they can be brushed off under the carpet because the performances are so bloody good.
Margaret Qualley talks about playing Sue alongside Demi Moore in The Substance
The Maid actress Margaret Qualley portrays the character of Sue, the younger version of Demi Moore’s Elisabeth in the movie. In her conversation with People, she shared,
I knew it was going to be a big challenge for me. The n*dity in the film very much serves the purpose of this story. It’s a road you have to go down to bring this to life. And I was excited about that challenge.
While speaking with Awards Watch, the actress was asked what made her pick the role of Sue, to which she said that it was the script. She added that the script kind of reminded her of what she would imagine reading a princess story or something like Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast would be like, only if they were messed up.
Qualley mentioned that it had that kind of fantastical storytelling element to it, and then the script was also talking about things that are unfortunately terribly relevant in one’s life currently. She said it felt like a very unique way of making people’s relationship with their bodies or aging fun, crazy, loud, and dramatic.
Upon asking about her prep for the role, she said that it was a ‘total mindf**k,’ because even from trying to get to the right body, the actress wanted to make sure that her body was representing whatever the filmmaker had an idea of perfection. That was challenging.
Margaret Qualley noted that she’d meditate on her way to work and, while coming back home, try to surround herself with loving-kindness thoughts as preparing for such an incredibly personal role, was challenging and isolating. Qualley went on to praise Demi Moore for her support and called her the most ideal team player.
The Substance is available to stream on MUBI.
