The Substance| Turning the gazed body into horror, for the viewer

This movie left me feeling nauseated. The last time I experienced such disgust was while watching "Saltburn."

Naturally, as a body horror film, it's designed to horrify and even repulse its audience.However, the intensity of revulsion and terror surpassed my initial expectations. Consequently, after viewing it, I found myself—like many other viewers—in a state of stunned silence:What in the world did I just witness?

"The Substance" isn't particularly innovative in terms of plot. Its central theme is readily apparent: the extreme pursuit of beauty leading to utter madness. This theme has been explored in numerous classic films, such as "Sunset Boulevard" and "The Star." Perhaps the closest parallel is the Japanese film "Helter Skelter," which also features a female celebrity protagonist trapped in an inescapable addiction to beauty, spiraling towards self-destruction.

Setting aside its visual elements, the storyline of "The Substance" isn't particularly surprising. From a psychoanalytic perspective, the metaphors in the story are clear. The split and opposition between Sparkle and Sue represent two personalities within one person. One symbolizes youth and desire, the other aging and fear. These two aspects are intertwined—opposing yet inseparable. Ultimately, driven by the fear of aging, the subject moves towards destruction in a desperate attempt to maintain youth and desire.

Can using the gaze to counter the gaze, or exploitation to counter exploitation—much like using war's cruelty in films to oppose war—truly be effective? This remains a contentious question. Personally, I oppose this approach when not discussing "The Substance." (For instance, the gaze-countering-gaze technique in "Poor Things" strikes me as superficial and hypocritical, with an underlying male-centric perspective.) I believe that using the gaze to counter itself inevitably requires creating an even more extreme gaze and exploitation. In our era of mass media consumption, such exploitation is easily absorbed and normalized. Consider, for example, the evolution of Japanese adult film content: it constantly pushes boundaries, creating increasingly stimulating and taboo-breaking scenes. These scenes might initially shock and titillate, but people gradually become desensitized. What was once novel becomes commonplace, and previously innocuous imagery—students, nurses, sailor uniforms—becomes sexualized into typical pornographic symbols.

Yet, I believe there's a middle ground. Films about gaze and exploitation directed by women occupy a nuanced and complex territory. Of course, a film doesn't automatically adopt a feminist stance simply because its director is female, which would naturally tend towards anti-male gaze and anti-exploitation in terms of body representation. However, in "The Substance," the thematic expression is clearly anti-exploitation and anti-male gaze. I believe this approach is the most promising way to challenge the gaze within the body horror genre: by transforming the body into an object of horror, the gazer can no longer derive pleasure from looking. The sense of gratification is replaced by a feeling of helpless fear. This creates a subtle role reversal: the audience, as gazers, no longer occupy a position of subjectivity—instead, we feel offended and intimidated.

This partially explains why many people (myself included) draw parallels between "The Substance" and "Saltburn." Both films seem to harbor a certain malice towards their audience: their stories and characters aren't designed to provide any form of pleasure or stimulating experience, but rather to make viewers feel uncomfortable and repulsed.

Consequently, for "The Substance," the boldness and madness in its visual details are integral to its thematic expression, compensating for the relative conventionality of its plot.

My main disappointment lies in the fact that Sparkle and Sue don't share memories or perceptions in the story. Despite the director's insistence that the two are one, both physically and mentally, Sparkle and Sue effectively become separate individuals. I sensed Sue was "another person" from her very first appearance. From Sparkle's perspective, Sue seems more like a different young woman. Sparkle's complex feelings towards Sue more closely resemble the jealousy of an obsessive mother towards her young daughter.

I can't help but wonder: if the two could share experiences and memories, perhaps the film could have delved deeper into female experiences and thoughts about self, aging, jealousy, consumerism, and desire.

In conclusion, "The Substance" is a film that's bound to leave viewers unsettled. You might hate it or you might like it, but either way, it's unlikely to fade from memory.

If you've also watched this movie, I'd be curious to hear your thoughts.