Coralie Fargeat’s gripping horrorThe Substancedeals with many topical issues surrounding aging, feminism, and the dangers of the beauty industry, but there are several questions that remain unanswered when the credits roll. The film follows the life of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famous aerobics instructor who’s subjected to a mysterious substance after losing her job on her fiftieth birthday. The chemical promises to transform her into her best self, but when the truth comes to light,Elisabeth struggles to balance her two identities.The Substanceis getting great reviews, and for good reason.
WhileThe Substanceis clearly a standalone moviethat doesn’t explicitly call for a sequel, there are certain aspects of the narrative that haven’t been answered by the time the story draws to a close. Whether this is for dramatic effect or to keep the audience guessing, it’s obvious that Fargeat knows how to exploit the unknown to make her stories even more captivating.The Substance’s endingmight be missing some details, but it’s still extremely effective overall thanks to the director’s keen eye for imagery and metaphorical storytelling.
11How Can Elisabeth & Sue Be Awake At The Same Time?
The Final Scenes Bring The Entire Process Into Question
When the titular serum is first introduced inThe Substance,it appears that the process creates a younger, better body which Elisabeth can transfer her consciousness to every seven days, inhabiting the form of Sue every other week. However, it soon becomes clear that this isn’t exactly the case. Elisabeth and Sue’s personalities seem increasingly disconnected. Each becomes increasingly angry with how the other chooses to spend their seven days of activity, which is what ultimately leads Elisabeth to try and kill Sue to end the process.
Until this moment arrives, it seems as though the schism between Sue and Elisabeth is psychological. Spending so much time living as Sue causes Elisabeth’s mind to fracture, with Sue becoming a full alternate personality. This is reinforced the first time Elisabeth considers ending the process but changes her mind. She still experiences life as Sue, and doesn’t want to give it up.However, this is flipped on its head when Sue awakens while Elisabeth is trying to kill her.It becomes clear then that the schism may not be psychological at all, and that Sue may have been a separate being all along (one which the substance simply allows Elisabeth to experience the mind of).
The Substancenever explains why Sue and Elisabeth can both be awake at the same time.However, there are two possible explanations that seem plausible.One is that Elisabeth was never controlling Sue to begin with, and that the substance simply allowed her to piggyback Sue’s mind as a silent observer. Her perception that she controlled Sue was false, and instead of transferring her consciousness every seven days, she was instead simply absorbing Sue’s memories. The other possible explanation is that, after a while, Sue’s brain had been active enough that it didn’t need Elisabeth’s consciousness to function, and she had become a distinct and separate entity at a biological level.
10Why Do Sue And Elisabeth Have To Swap Every 7 Days?
The Science Behind The Substance Is Incredibly Vague
Many of the questions viewers have after watchingThe Substanceinvolve how the mysterious serum actually works. The instructional video Elisabeth first receives is very clear on the rules of the process, but doesn’t reveal why they must be followed so strictly. It’s made clear to Elisabeth and the audience that failing to switch after seven days will have disastrous consequences, but it’s never clearly explained why. However, while there’s no direct exposition given,The Substancedoes answer this question in its own way when Sue starts pushing the limits of her time being active.
For Elisabeth, spending too long living as Sue causes her original body to rapidly age and deteriorate.The Substanceexplains this as time being stolen from Elisabeth by Sue - though the science on exactly how this works isn’t ever elaborated on. For Sue, spending too long as the active half of the pair eventually leads to her body beginning to break down. The idea of clones and artificial biological bodies losing integrity is common in science-fiction, and it seems this is the case for Sue and the other beings created by the substance. Additionally, Sue needs Elisabeth to be active so that Elisabeth’s body can replenish the spinal fluids used for Sue’s daily stabilizer injection.
9Was “You Are One” A Lie?
The Foundational Truth Of The Process May Have Been A Misdirection
In the video presentation sent to Elisabeth inThe Substanceone statement is given significant focus - “remember, you are one”.The company behind the process goes to great lengths to ensure their customers don’t forget that, despite how different the personalities of their new personas may be, both the matrix (Elisabeth) and the other self (Sue) are the same person. However, by the end ofThe Substance,this doesn’t appear to be the case. This isn’t only apparent from Sue and Elisabeth, either.
At one point, Sue meets an elderly man at a restaurant and realizes he’s the matrix for the other self who first introduced her to the substance at the doctor’s surgery. The man clearly speaks of his other self as though he’s referring to an entirely different person. What’s more, the schism between Sue and Elisabeth happened after only a few weeks of switching. This raises serious questions about the truth of the supplier’s assertion that the matrix and other self are one.
The emphasis on this point in the instructional video Elisabeth receives could be due to how easily users of the substance experience a splitting of identity between their original selves and their new forms. However, the events ofThe Substancealso give a strong impression that the supplier was simply lying.The Substancenever fully clarifies either way, which has led to many questions about just how truthful the explanation of the process actually was.
8Does The Substance Cost Money?
Elisabeth Is Never Seen Giving Payment
One of the most puzzling aspects ofThe Substancethat isn’t explained by the film is how exactly this situation works.The acquisition of the chemicals is very cryptic, with Elisabeth turning up to an abandoned warehouse and never interacting with anybody else while she’s there. In this way, the audience is essentially kept in the dark just as much as the characters. This is necessary to uphold the mystery of the story, but even when the film reaches its climax, this aspect of the business isn’t explained. Elisabeth is never shown paying, but she’s referred to as a “client”.
Presumably, it wouldn’t make any sense for the business to offer this high-end technology to strangers without some kind of payment or deposit. Elisabeth gets her hands on the substance at the recommendation of another client - a doctor who treats her following a dangerous car accident. This unorthodox word-of-mouth approach suggests thatthe substance could be a kind of pyramid scheme, where Elisabeth would’ve later been roped into recruiting others into the trials - if everything hadn’t gone so wrong in the final act.
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7How Many People Are Using The Substance?
There Are Many Parcels In The Depository
There are plenty of greatcharacters inThe Substance,but Elisabeth is the only main figure with any knowledge of the substance. It seems to be an incredibly covert business, kept under the radar to protect the company from any liability if anything goes wrong. Elisabeth never has face-to-face contact with the company, and she only ever speaks to their representative over the phone. However, during her trips to collect the chemicals,it’s shown that multiple other lockers are waitingfor the other clients.
The substance’s reach could go much further than the movie seems to suggest.
Elisabeth is also referred to by a number instead of her name, suggesting thatmany other clients are involved in the program. Given the details of the procedure, it would be extremely difficult to recognize exactly how many people are disguised as their younger selves. Things only went wrong for Elisabeth when she decided to break the 7-day rule - for those who can adhere to the strict guidelines, it would be impossible to distinguish them from any other young person. The substance’s reach could go much further than the movie seems to suggest.
6Who Is The Substance’s Supplier?
Their Identity Is Confined To A Voice On The Phone
Despite all the information that’s revealed about the substance, including the detailed process needed to make it work,Elisabeth never learns anything about the people behind the business. This includes those responsible for supplying the chemicals throughout the city, alongside the person who came up with the idea in the first place.Whoever created the substanceis notably absent from the story, and while this is almost certainly done to allow the audience to focus on Elisabeth’s journey, it’s information that could definitely have enhanced the film.
However, keeping the supplier’s identity secret is a great way of givingThe Substancean extra layer of mystery. It prevents the audience from blaming any specific individual for the events of the film, forcing them instead to examine Fargeat’s themes and how they promote the film’s ideology.There’s no clear villain of the story, which means audiences have to search deeper and think critically to develop their own stance on the narrative. It’s a clever way of forcing audiences to engage with the work by withholding certain details that aren’t strictly necessary.
5Why Was There Extra Activator Fluid?
Was It A Mistake On The Company’s End?
One small detail that doesn’t play a major role inThe Substance, but still raises fascinating questions, is the extra activator fluid that Elisabeth is given when she first accepts the substance. While everything else is carefully measured and split into perfect amounts, the activator fluid is excessive and she doesn’t need it all. This was clearly an intentional choice, but it’s not immediately clear how it serves the film - it’ssomething that could easily be missed upon a first watch, but it subtly suggests something about the mysterious agency.
The extra activator fluid could serve one of two purposes: firstly, it could prove that the agency behind the substance is fallible and capable of making mistakes. By proving this early in the film with the miscalculated liquids,The Substancedrops a small easter eggthat immediately distorts the audience’s trust in the company. Secondly, the extra fluid could be a subtle suggestion that what’s to come (Sue using the activator liquid on herself) has happened before, and the company is aware of this danger. This once againpaints the company as corrupt and untrustworthy.
4How Did Elisabeth Survive Giving Birth To Sue?
The Procedure Surely Should Have Killed Her
Although Sue and Elisabeth don’t look alike inThe Substance, the two characters are actually born from the same DNA. As soon as Elisabeth uses the activator serum on herself, Sue is created and forced from her body through a bloody slit in her back. The unconventional birthing process isone ofThe Substance’s most creative scenes, and it immediately cements these two characters as separate parts of the same whole. However, the physical pain and lingering injuries that Elisabeth sustains during the birth would almost certainly result in death - but she manages to emerge relatively unscathed.
There would be no story if Elisabeth died here, and it’s her co-existence with Sue that propels much of the narrative forward.
The simple answer to Elisabeth’s survival is that it’s necessary for the film. There would be no story if Elisabeth died here, and it’s her co-existence with Sue that propels much of the narrative forward. However, to give an in-universe explanation to her immunity, it’s likely thatthe substance has healing properties. It’s a high-end drug that isn’t available to the public, and it must have beyond those that are explained. For it to work at all, it would need to ensure that the subject could survive activation - so Elisabeth’s survival is almost certainly a result of the serum.
3How Was Elisabeth Selected For The Substance?
Could Anybody Have Been Chosen?
Demi Moore’s Elisabeth makes for a fascinating protagonist ofThe Substance, but the film’s explanation for why she was selected islargely implied rather than explicitly stated. It’s from the doctor that she first hears about the program after suffering a serious motor accident, but she’s not immediately interested. It takes a while for her to come around on the idea, and eventually, she’s sold. But in order for the substance to work as a company, they must surely target specific individuals who are both suitable for the procedure and unlikely to reveal the serum’s existence to the public.
In this regard, Elisabeth is the perfect candidate for the substance - she’s unhappy with her daily life, she needs to appear younger in order to climb the ranks of her career, and nobody would ask questions if she disappeared for a long period of time. She’s already disregarded at work, so it’s likely that nobody would believe her if she tried to spill the company’s secrets or break the rules.The supplier is clearly very organized and knowledgeable, as displayed by the smooth-running distribution process, so it’s no wonder that they were able to find a suitable candidate.
2Has The Substance Ever Gone Wrong Before?
It’s Unbelievable That Nobody Has Made Elisabeth’s Mistake Before
This question is largely speculative, but there are some details throughout the film that suggestThe Substance’s endingmay have happened before. The extra activator serum is the first clue, but the biggest contributor to this theory can be found in Elisabeth’s phone conversations with the call representative.They don’t seem particularly surprised to hear the main character’s problems, but rather annoyed that she didn’t follow the instructions. It’s possible that they encountered these side effects in testing, but his tone suggests an annoyance that he’s suspiciously familiar with.
Additionally, one ofThe Substance’s main themes is the universal experience of wanting to look younger and more attractive. It would slightly go against the film’s central tenet if Elisabeth was the first client to break the guidelines and spend more time as her “perfect” self. Instead,the story can be viewed as a kind of modern-day fairy talewhere Elisabeth represents the whole of humanity and her actions serve as a warning against this kind of behavior. The film is extremely allegorical at times, so this reading makes a lot of sense.
