The Substance Plot Summary
The Substance is a 2024 gory horror movie helmed by Coralie Fargeat and stars Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley in the same role. The critically acclaimed body horror won the Best Screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival and is a commentary on ageism and beauty standards.
The movie begins with Oscar-winning movie star, Elizabeth Sparkle being kicked out of her fitness cable show as she turns 50 and seems to be too old and ugly for the network. Her boss, Harvey (played by Dennis Quaid) has no qualms in being blasé about it as he puts out a casting call for a younger actress to replace Elizabeth.
Upset by the events, she gets into a car accident following which she is checked upon by a strange but handsome, young nurse. He suggests that she should try The Substance which will turn her into a younger, more perfect self. Elizabeth hesitates before giving in and ordering the drug.
However, it splits her into two bodies – Elizabeth, her old, ageing self and Sue, the young, pretty self. She needs to switch between the two bodies every 7 days without fail to avoid any dangerous consequences. But of course, there would be no movie if she followed the rules, huh?
Well, with all those plot twists and a shocking conclusion, here is an ending-explained article on the movie, The Substance.
Why does Elizabeth try to relive as her older self?
After the second round’s mishap when Elizabeth ruins her finger by trying to stay as Sue for a few extra hours, she feels jealous. The Substance customer service tells her that she and Sue are the same person and she should accept it. She feels guilty and feels like she is being watched when she runs into 207, the handsome nurse who suggested The Substance to her in the first place.
His true self is an elderly man who knows she feels lonely as her old self. He feels the same way as it gets harder each time to remember that the old self deserves a life too. His young self has started staying for extra hours as well, eating away at him.
Scared, Elizabeth runs out and almost crashes into the biker she hooked up with as Sue. He, of course, doesn’t recognise her and is rude to her. She recalls her classmate, Fred the only guy who still cares for her. She calls him and he makes her feel special, surprised that someone like her would want to go out with him.
She dresses up for the date, and almost feels nice about herself. However, at every turn, she is reminded of how Sue is prettier than her. She tries to match her but is unable to. Her insecurity gets the better of her and she never shows up for the date.
Why doesn’t Elizabeth stop the experience?
After Sue’s show is a hit, the younger Elizabeth keeps getting tons of opportunities like being on the Vogue cover. Soon, she starts delaying the switch to her older self for random reasons. When she finally switches, the older Elizabeth is so disfigured that her hair has fallen off and half of her face is messed up.
She still cannot accept that she is her younger self and blames Sue for ruining her old body. The Substance customer care explains that she and Sue are the same person but if she wants, she can stop the experience for good. She cannot fix her old body but Sue will be gone forever.
As Sue, she doesn’t like going back to being Elizabeth and even seems to be ashamed of her. But as Elizabeth, all she wants is to be Sue. She tries to come to terms that she is the same person and convinces herself that she will respect the balance and switch in time. With this thought process, she refuses to stop the experience.
Why is Elizabeth unable to stay as Sue after 3 months?
After Elizabeth’s breakdown during Sue’s late-night interview, Sue is disgusted by her and refuses to respect the balance. She extracts 3 months’ worth of stabilizer fluid that keeps Sue’s body moving. And for these 3 months, she lives every day as Sue, refusing to switch back to Elizabeth. She finally runs out of stabilizer fluid on the night before New Year’s Eve.
She begs The Substance’s customer care for help but nothing can be done. She needs to let the stabilizer fluid regenerate, and for this, she needs to switch back to Elizabeth for the next 7 days. Which means she will miss hosting the network’s New Year’s Eve show. Sue wants to refuse but her body gradually stops working.
She rushes to Elizabeth and finally switches. Elizabeth has been horribly disfigured and upset, she finally stops the experience as she doesn’t want Sue to steal any more from her. To stop the experience, she needs to terminate Sue’s body by injecting her with a black fluid sent to her by The Substance.
She almost terminates Sue but remembers the NYE hosting gig. It has always been a part of her dream and she regrets trying to end Sue. To save her, she tries to switch with Sue.
How many Elizabeths are there?
Half of the termination fluid is in Sue when Elizabeth tries to switch with her. It wakes up Sue and it seems that Elizabeth’s consciousness has been split between the two bodies. Realizing that Elizabeth tried to kill her, Sue is furious. She brutally beats up Elizabeth till the old body dies.
Sue then heads to the network to get ready for the NYE gig. However, since she and Elizabeth are the same person, her body starts disfiguring to make up for the loss of the older Elizabeth. Desperate, Sue rushes home and uses the activator once more, disregarding the warning that it is only for single use.
The new version that comes out of a passed-out Sue is a large disfigured monster with the real Elizabeth’s face stuck at the back. The monsterized version of Elizabeth imagines that she looks like the real Elizabeth and is beautiful. She heads to the network studio and tries to introduce herself on stage.
The audience calls her a monster as different parts of her explode and spray blood everywhere. She runs out and her body completely explodes. The only things that remain are her brain and her real face. She crawls to her Hollywood star where she imagines the NYE gig has been a success. She smiles and disintegrates for good.
Read More: The Substance Movie Review