The Substance – now available to watch on Mubi – is a wild, gory ride, but it's the movie's least splashy scene that really resonates.
Directed by Coralie Fargeat, the story follows Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore), an actor who became renowned for her aerobics show and now, just as she turns 50, is about to be replaced by a younger woman.
Frustrated by the situation, Elizabeth takes a mysterious serum called The Substance, which leads her to birth a younger clone of herself named Sue (Margaret Qualley). Each of them have one week at a time to enjoy life, but soon Sue starts taking some liberties, with tragic consequences.
There are plenty of shocking moments along the way, from Sue's gruesome birth to Monstro Elisasue's final blood bath at the New Year's Eve show. The movie's best scene, however, is actually an understated (but still terrifying) moment of self-hatred.
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In the scene, Elisabeth is getting ready for a date with an old high-school classmate she recently reconnected with. After being fired from her TV show and taking The Substance in a state of distress, the sweet compliments from this man are the only thing making her feel good about herself.
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She's chosen to wear a daring red dress. She's fixed her hair and put on some make up, red lipstick and high heels. She looks gorgeous, and yet something's not right. The reflection looking back in the mirror is not perfect; it's not what she used to look like, it's not Sue.
After a few anxious looks at the clock (she's running late) and a few last retouches, she makes it all the way to the front door.
However, her distorted image in the doorknob stops her in her tracks. In that unflattering version of herself, we really step into Elisabeth's shoes and understand what it is that she's seeing as all her insecurities come crashing down.
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Rushing back to the bathroom, Elisabeth looks again in the mirror and feels ridiculous. She applies a slash of lipstick across her cheek, then aggressively wipes off her make-up by rubbing her hands down her face.
She's not making it to the date. She can't – self-hatred is a powerful thing.
Watch The Substance on MUBI (via Prime Video)
In a movie filled with disgusting body horror, buckets of blood and the clear intent of shocking audiences at every turn, this understated scene becomes the most terrifying, and the most relatable.
For the majority of the movie, Elisabeth Sparkle feels like a caricature of the classic fallen Hollywood star. While we can understand her obsession with beauty and youth – she's being pushed out of the entertainment industry as if she has some sort of expiration date – it's hard to connect with her.
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In that mirror scene, though, we finally see the woman behind the archetype, Elisabeth at her most vulnerable. This is the ground-level effect that unattainable beauty standards have on women.
It's an everyday feeling of inadequacy and an unstoppable self-loathing that shows up in the most unexpected and brutal ways. Having a breakdown in front of the mirror when getting ready to go out, or at any time, is painfully common. And it's not about vanity, but rather a result of undesirable (and unnecessary) comparisons.
Elisabeth is comparing herself to Sue, a younger and more beautiful version of herself. She's comparing herself to her old self, forever immortalised in movies, TV, aerobic videos and the massive portrait that hangs in her living room.
She's haunted as well by Sue's sexy billboard ad, which seems to mock her by looming in front of the windows of her apartment.
For most women today, however, those comparisons are mostly coming from social media, a land of unrealistic beauty standards.
It's not just a matter of seeing gorgeous people living their best lives, but the dangers of believing digitally modified images and face filters are real. A quick scroll on Instagram is enough to feel insufficient and insecure, to find oneself lacking.
For those struggling with their body image, Elisabeth's nightmarish experience while getting ready for a date might resonate in a visceral way.
Demi Moore has talked about how difficult it was to film that scene for the movie. "It's one of the most heart-wrenching moments in the film," she told Variety.
"I think we can all relate to trying to make ourselves look better, and just making it worse and worse. Coralie likes to do a lot of takes, and my face was just raw. I got to a point where I couldn't do it anymore," she added.
"The idea of looking at yourself in the mirror and seeing only what's wrong – it's like you're seeking to make yourself uglier, so you can look how you feel."
The Substance is at its best when it echoes real-life problems for women, and those deep-rooted insecurities we all struggle with.
Looking at the mirror can sometimes be a terrifying experience, so there's only one message it's important to take away from this scene – be kinder to yourself.
The Substance is now available to watch on Mubi.
Mireia (she/her) has been working as a movie and TV journalist for over eight years. Based in the UK, she is a former deputy movies editor at Digital Spy, and previously worked for the Spanish magazine Fotogramas. Mireia's work has been published in other outlets such as Esquire and Elle in Spain, and WeLoveCinema and GamesRadar+ in the UK. She is also a published author, having written the essay Biblioteca Studio Ghibli: Nicky, la aprendiz de bruja about Hayao Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service.
During her years as a freelance journalist and film critic, Mireia has covered festivals around the world and has interviewed high-profile talents such as Kristen Stewart, Ryan Gosling, Jake Gyllenhaal and many more. She's also taken part in juries such as the FIPRESCI jury at Venice Film Festival and the short film jury at Kingston International Film Festival in London. LinkedIn
