“Remember, you are one.”

A deep, monotone voice rang in my ears as a neon green title flashed across the screen: “The Substance.” I sat in the reclining seats of the theater as I watched the preview, thinking to myself, “I want to see that movie as soon as it comes to theaters.”

I purchased a ticket the moment they went on sale Soon. The lights dimmed, and the neon green screen appeared once more. Two and a half hours later, the lights arose again, and I had a new favorite movie.

The film follows Elisabeth Sparkle, an old TV star who takes a cell-regenerating serum named The Substance, creating a younger and more attractive version of herself named Sue. The two need to switch bodies each week to maintain the balance.

The film has been the subject of extreme controversy. Many have said it didn’t meet their expectations and were disappointed after watching it.

“After two hours and 20 minutes of flamboyantly repulsive variations on this well-worn theme, even the strongest-stomached and most feminist of viewers could be excused for muttering. we get it already,” stated a rather blunt review from  Slate Pop Culture.  

In my opinion, people who hated “The Substance” didn’t understand its purpose. While the horror present may be slightly gory, the film instead focuses on the horrors of being a woman, making it an exposé on Hollywood.

When writer/director Coralie Fargeat was compiling the film, she took inspiration from her own experiences, to write something that encompassed what it truly means to be a woman. Fargeat showcases how women are told who to be and what to look like within her movie.

“[The] Director,” states an article from The Conversation which describes Coraline Fargeat, “takes aim at both the beauty myth – the belief that a woman’s value is tied to her appearance – and the male gaze – a way of visualizing the female body as an object to be looked at for and by men.”

The film’s cinematography extenuates these ideas by using close-up camera angles that make viewers, especially women, uncomfortable.

Dennis Quaid’s character, Harvey, embodies the male gaze, the film then takes the perspective of a woman’s uncomfortable feeling when a man talks down to them. Harvey states, “Pretty girls should always smile,” a common phrase that some 98% of women are told in their lifetime.

“Harvey’s executive decisions are influenced by this behavior. He makes both Elisabeth and Sue the victims of the same system. Harvey’s role is critical to understanding the meaning of The Substance,”

Although not gory, this scene Quads character of the grossest in the film. However, this was not the only aspect of the film that caught my attention.

The film highlights a double reality, one real and one fake. We see both Sparkle’s actual reality and Sue’s distorted one throughout the film. Sue is searching to regain the spotlight she had once lost.

“Throughout the film,” the aforementioned article from The Conversation continues “[Coraline Fargeat uses mirrors, photographs, cameras and television to draw our attention to the male gaze and to show the trouble – and horror – that ensues when appearances and reality do not align.”

This escapism causes disastrous events. The horror of trying to change yourself is showcased throughout the entire runtime of the film. After mutilating and breaking herself, Sparkle is like a modern-day Frankenstein’s monster, damaged beyond repair.

After watching this film, I thoroughly believe that every Hollywood producer should see it. The more women try to change and morph themselves into what is appeasing to the male gaze, the more they destroy themselves, and soon, we’ll be living in a real-life horror movie, not unlike the world detailed in “The Substance.”

“The Substance offers no redemption for Elisabeth. Her pursuit of a younger, more beautiful self is the horror. Her final realization is that the more she tries to escape her body, the more she is trapped by it.”

The true horror of the film is the lengths that women will go to be beautiful by society’s standards. They mutilate and rip apart their bodies for a simple compliment. The film ends with both Sparkle and Sue destroying one another in their battle for perfection, showcasing the redundancy behind changing oneself for society.