The Substance - The balance must be respected
Elisabeth Sparkle, a once renowned fitness TV show celebrity, experiences a decline in popularity as she ages. Overhearing her director's plans to replace her with a younger star, Elisabeth's self-esteem drops. While driving, consumed by self-criticism and anxieties about her aging appearance, she gets involved in a car accident.
During her hospital stay, a staff member discreetly handed her a card with a cryptic message: call this number if you desire rebirth. Desperate to escape her current appearance, Elisabeth contacted the number and was instructed to visit a specific location. There, she found a box containing a mysterious vaccine and instructions. Following them, she injected herself and blacked out.
When she regains consciousness, a younger, more beautiful version of herself has emerged from her back. This new body, however, requires a form of sustenance: it needs to extract and inject fluids from Elisabeth's original body. Furthermore, to maintain this transformation, the bodies have to switch places every week.
Sue, the younger body, lands a major role after a successful audition, replacing Elisabeth in the new program. Elisabeth is jealous of Sue, because of how pretty Sue is and how successful her career has taken off. Elisabeth hates Sue for replacing her role in the show. With her packed schedule, Sue extracts fluid from Elisabeth's body to sustain herself, causing Elisabeth to age rapidly. Resentful and distraught, Elisabeth has a breakdown.
Despite Elisabeth's deteriorating condition, Sue continues extracting fluid to maintain her stardom. As the biggest show of the year approaches, Sue's fluid supply runs low. The supplier informs her that switching bodies is the only option. Following the switch, Elisabeth becomes an elderly woman and contacts the supplier to end the experiment. The experiment can be ended if Elisabeth injects the serum but Sue will be gone forever. Elisabeth hesitates when she is injecting the termination serum, because she still yearns for fame. Sue awakens and fights back when she realizes Elisabeth is going to kill her. Desiring an improved version of herself, Sue injects the remaining serum, resulting in a new creature—a hybrid of Elisabeth and Sue.
Wearing a mask, the hybrid performs at the show. When the audience discovers her true identity, they start panicking and the show becomes a total chaos. The chaos only ends when the creature is killed.
Chasing youth and beauty is normal, but we need to be aware of the risks and expense of trying to meet impossible beauty standards. Getting older is natural and unavoidable, and fighting it can have real downsides. We should really think about why we're trying to fit in with what society wants and put our health and happiness first, instead of some unrealistic idea of staying young forever.
Our prime time is temporary, and we can't stay at our best indefinitely. Accepting that our prime time will fade allows us to move forward and embrace new goals, even as we age. Life has countless opportunities for exploration and fulfillment, regardless of our age. There's no need to be hard on ourselves as we grow older.