The Substance Analysis & Commentary
Added 2025-01-22 21:37:40 +0000 UTCSomething a few of you requested, something a little bit different. I get this won't be for everyone but we've been doing a lot of religion and mythology and I'm aware some of you aren't interested in Beau OR Nosferatu. So hopefully this is something outside of those interests that gives us chance to talk about stuff we usually wouldn't.
Necessary disclaimers:
The only prep I have done is watch the film one time, this is in an effort to provide myself a bit of a challenge and keep the dialogue organic and the content relatively easy to make.
We're touching on what will be sensitive ground for a lot of people. Age, attractiveness, body image issues, sexuality, pornography, the list goes on. I may misspeak, I may say things that come off as insensitive, that's all part of the fun but it's not my intention at all. The film is blunt in what it's showing us, so I'm going to be reasonably blunt in discussing it - but I'm certainly not trying to offend anyone.
And I cannot stress this last one enough: DO. NOT. WATCH. THIS. AROUND. PEOPLE. There's going to be minutes at a time where everything on screen is nsfw, if you've seen the film you know what I'm talking about, so please be mindful if you have children/parents/colleagues/anyone within eyeshot of this ludicrous video.
And remember: take care of yourself!
Comments
This movie hits different when you've had open spine surgery twice
GoodbyeJamie
2025-02-26 03:01:06 +0000 UTCWas also thinking of The Great Red Dragon, by extension, the story from the hannibal franchise. The murderer commits his crimes to fuel the growth of the dragon (and believes he is changing his victims in the process). I don't think it's necessarily linked to this film, but just thought it was interesting you also thought of it and there's similarities in the self image themes.
Eli
2025-02-24 01:03:56 +0000 UTCI believe MonstroElizaSue either vomits up a boob or one pushes out of her body at the end when she's on the stage.
Erin BP
2025-02-21 21:57:22 +0000 UTCAnd then as someone who’s dealt with body image issues and disorders eating, the scene of Elizabeth ruining her makeup and giving up is such a real and awful feeling. Like you said, it’s definitely a “I wanna rip my skin off” feeling, but… more manic. The desperate clawing and swatting at her own face is so relatable it hurts.
Haley Hapgood
2025-02-21 19:16:01 +0000 UTCI also never thought about how Sue choreographing the workout means it’s objectification she’s *consenting* to! Which makes a HUGE difference in how those shots feel.
Haley Hapgood
2025-02-21 17:52:42 +0000 UTCOkay, one more thought about the bloody scene with the audience. Similar to “Carrie”, the monster crossed over and is holding everyone accountable. Exactly what you said about the audience also being complicit.
Michelle Britt
2025-02-21 17:39:12 +0000 UTCAnother and final thought. The last image of Elizabeth, her face on the star. Very reminiscent of Medusa or better a Greek gorgons. She has no legs and in some depictions of the gorgons their upper bodies are human like and their lower bodies are snake tails. Medusa/gorgon theme fits because of their known hatred of men. Medusa was the only sister of the three gorgons who was mortal.
Michelle Britt
2025-02-21 17:37:19 +0000 UTCTwo random comments as I watch: Your insert at 41:40 was as unexpected as it was delightful. Also, the birthmark on the attendant's hand at 42:15 not only allows us to identify his matrix later in the film, but it's also an allusion to Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1843 short story "The Birthmark," which similarly deals with the relationship between female beauty and male control.
dm
2025-02-21 16:51:22 +0000 UTCUp top I love how VISCERAL this movie is. Even when it’s not showing body horror on screen, the way Dennis Quaid is filmed and the focus on how parts of Qualley’s body, like, jiggle during the Pump It Up scenes keep this meaty, visceral feeling constant throughout the movie and I love it.
Haley Hapgood
2025-02-21 16:28:00 +0000 UTCI'm not even halfway through so you very well may cover or touch on this read, but I see sexual objectification as more of an indirect theme supporting the central themesa, which changes how the sexy shots feel to me. I don't see it emphasizing the wrongness of the objectifying camera itself---it's definitely capitalizing on it feeling uncomfortable for the viewer, but it is not the villain of this movie. The plot also isn't at all focused on the toll being objectified takes on Sue except in minor moments. Being objectified is moreso the sad reward for having value as a woman (beauty) in this fucked up system. It's the highest pleasure Elizabeth/Sue can obtain, and carries an immense cost with it. Which is the true focus of the movie: the cost vs reward. The utter self-destruction and self-hatred vs the fleeting feeling of being valued for something that has nothing to do with who you are. Showing them naked to me isnt contributing to what this movie has a problem with, it's showing how it becomes a problem, with Elizabeth/Sue seeing her own body as a commodity that directly reflects how she feels about herself. The ass shaking is objectifying, but it's not saying "see this? this is wrong" it's saying "ok here you go, enjoy. this is what all of this has been for. is it worth it?" The validity of my read depends on whether one personally thinks leering shots are the thing creating the problem (if so, then the answer is a simple: yes, this movie contributes to the issue), but I don't think it is what the movie is explicitly railing against.
KT
2025-02-21 03:52:25 +0000 UTCWhen she gets the refill kit, she seems to skip two days to start Sue back up early. Also that advertising is very similar to the Cindy Crawford soda ad from the 90s
J. Smith
2025-02-21 00:11:28 +0000 UTCThe “space odyssey/rods” during the initial transformation reminds me of DNA splitting is an observation I had
Sheridan Porter
2025-02-20 21:28:50 +0000 UTCThe dragon! I instantly thought of William Blake’s paintings of “The Great Red Dragon”. Created for biblical scenes in Revelation. Not sure the order of the paintings but the most common one that people are aware of would be introduction of the dragon to the world. Revealing a new monster. AND if you keep exploring this series of painting you’ll see that “The Number of Beast is 666”, shows the dragon all lumpy and bumpy exactly like the new monster that comes into the film after Sue tries to replicate herself.
Michelle Britt
2025-02-20 19:58:25 +0000 UTCi feel like the scene with the red phone where her face is shadowed out reminds me of lost high way!!
Jules
2025-02-11 01:16:08 +0000 UTCI watched this film so I could watch your analysis lol. I think the light it shone on me was really revealing. I feel that there was a sort of Walter White/Skyler (Breaking Bad) dynamic to the Elizabeth and Sue relationship. I found myself sort of rooting for Sue at points in the movie even though I knew SHE was the one abusing Lizzy. It made me uncomfortable about “pretty privilege” and how I might need to check myself, if I unfairly give preference to girls like Sue over the elderly or just non attractive people.
Midnight
2025-02-05 00:42:00 +0000 UTCLoving the commentary so far. I just got to the dragon part and wanted to give my thoughts about what it could represent. To me, there are 2 possibilities: 1. It’s supposed to be a reference to a phoenix. I know a dragon and a phoenix aren’t the same thing, but the fact that it’s on fire makes me think it’s trying to draw some sort of comparison between the two, especially since a phoenix represents rebirth, and a comparison can easily be drawn to how Elizabeth was reborn as Sue. 2. The easier comparison to draw is to the term “chasing the dragon”. It was a term that was originally applied to inhaling the vapor from a drug, but the term has broadened to refer to the “elusive pursuit of a high equal to the user’s first in the use of the drug” (definition from Wikipedia). Basically, it’s chasing that first high you get when you use a drug, but never being able to replicate it as you grow more accustomed to the drug. Drug use is already a huge theme of the movie, so I don’t think this was just a coincidence. What makes it even more convincing is that this was originally a Chinese phrase, and the dragon on Sue’s robe is a Chinese dragon. Elizabeth is constantly chasing the high she gets from being beautiful and all the fame and love that comes from it. Sue is a perfect representation of that. For a moment, she is able to touch perfection, but this is fleeting, and her downfall comes from this constant chase. It’s a great symbol for all the themes of the film. I also wanted to touch on the palm trees for a bit, as I think it relates to what I was talking about above. First off, it’s a great way to represent Hollywood, as palm trees are sort of an iconic symbol of LA. It represents all the dreams and hopes that LA supposedly embodies. What’s interesting is that the palm trees in this film are always shot from a downward angle, with the audience looking up towards the palms. In this way, the palm trees can represent how all the fame and glory LA promises is always just out of reach. We’re able to see it all around us, but all we can do is look up and pine for it, never able to actually reach out and grab it. This is another great symbol for “chasing the dragon”. It’s fitting that the palm tree is shown bathed in red when Sue kills Elizabeth, as it shows what the pursuit of fame and beauty often results in. I absolutely adore this movie and it might be my favorite film of the decade so far. I love how it’s able to communicate so much through just visuals that are so powerful and distinct. Coralie Fargeat is quickly becoming one of my favorite filmmakers of this generation and I can’t wait to see what she does next. I highly recommend Mubi’s behind the scenes video for this movie. She goes into detail about her process and it shows just how passionate she is about filmmaking.
MirrorsForever
2025-02-04 19:58:22 +0000 UTCJust finally watched Nosferatu. Watched it 3 times in 2 days and I'm so sorry excited to hear your long take on it!!!
Gina Wesley
2025-02-03 03:45:56 +0000 UTCalso PLEASE NEVER SHUT UP ABOUT FONTS
kaliban zehe
2025-02-02 20:43:52 +0000 UTC“this is a normal thing to be doing at half seven in the morning” made me think about how i watched this for the first time in the morning while i was sick in bed not knowing how body horror it was and feeling everything on screen tenfold 😭
kaliban zehe
2025-02-02 20:39:33 +0000 UTCI feel like the product placement makes so much sense with the themes of the movie. These voyeuristic shots of Sue’s body drip with the vibe of over sexualized perfume, food, beverage commercials. She’s being presented as the product while subtly selling the audience things. If that makes sense 😂
Carisa Beard
2025-01-29 21:49:19 +0000 UTCNot sure if you mentioned this and I missed it, but the overhead shot of Sue on the pink satin sheets reminded me a lot of Britney Spears’ Rolling Stone cover when she was 15/16. You could argue that it another reference to a sweet young girl that was exploited by the entertainment industry. At 1:53, the two tubes of blood reminded me of Frida Kahlo’s painting “Two Fridas” that shows two women sharing tubes of blood between their hearts.
Paigers
2025-01-29 04:26:18 +0000 UTCsince u loved these Margaret moments, i think you’d like her in “The Sanctuary”
Konstantin
2025-01-29 01:27:52 +0000 UTCHonestly the subtitles were working fine for me as an alternative to having to turn sound up or down on your end.
Paigers
2025-01-28 22:42:08 +0000 UTCRe: why the back I think emerging from the back was chosen because it looks less human and more insectoid. When something comes from an orifice, even an unnatural one (see: Men's oral birthing ending) it says "creation." Having the new form emerge from the back is more "molting" or "shedding" of the older form. It treats the older body as something worn out, discarded. A cocoon is less a stage of creation and more a shell of what used to be living material. I think it also plays into the inherently antagonistic relationship of the matrix. The newer self emerges already being tasked to repair its older, host self. The older body is made even more of a burden than it already likely was seen. Sue "is" Elisabeth, but Elisabeth's inner hatred of herself is only further exacerbated by having to functionally nurse it back to health. Whoever makes the Substance has plausible deniability, "we simply offer a choice," but the system inherently puts the two selves in opposition to one another as early as possible.
Ryan Silva
2025-01-27 19:27:18 +0000 UTCalso, yes very brave of both women for this film but qualley did have a body double and also wore multiple prosthetics including fake breasts to make her body look more like the "ideal woman"
ginny_tea
2025-01-26 18:21:21 +0000 UTCthe director even actually injected herself for that close-up shot when elizabeth first takes the substance! her commitment is awesome
ginny_tea
2025-01-26 18:04:04 +0000 UTCSubscribed to your patreon to watch this! I wanted to pop in the comments and say there is a fantastic making-of featurette on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H64HNvXrqU) that shows how everything (and really...everything) in the film was done with practical effects. Even the back-splitting and all that. It's outstanding.
ginny_tea
2025-01-26 17:36:04 +0000 UTCThanks for this. I did indeed have a good time
Leon Murray
2025-01-26 15:47:18 +0000 UTCone idea i have for why the other self is birthed from the back is the idea of backstabbing/betrayal, because the idea of the substance is that it is your “younger” self(the person who ordered it to begin with) must harm your older self(the person who recieves it) because your back will absolutely be opened, causing you pain in the process. like its using the way time/sequencing naturally works to make the point of the film. also not to keep mentioning perfect blue but it was definitely definitely an influence for this movie. the ideal/false self being presented to be bright and colorful while also shown in washed out lighting, the real self shown surrounded in darker, warmer colors, emphasis on eye contact between the selves, sexualized womanhood vs abject womanhood, the false self as the aggressor in the inevitable conflict,etc. even the head trauma lol. idk if this makes any sense but yeah i loved this video!!
Carson Kirkley
2025-01-26 02:58:58 +0000 UTCJust watched the film today, after seeing that you did a video about it. THAT WAS A LITTLE INTENSE. Can’t wait to watch your vid.
Scott Sinner
2025-01-26 00:16:24 +0000 UTCAwesome break down! Perfect video to watch while I crochet :) The way you put your thoughts into words is so stunning to me. I love a good "in your face" movie once in a while where everyone pretty much understands what's happening the first or second watch. I liked your mention of the different way Elisabeth and Sue are treated by those around them. As a trans-man who didn't transition until my late teens, I definitely noticed how predatory men treated me in my early teens vs how I never got catcalled past 16 years old. And then another drastic change as I transitioned and other men saw me as their peer. The pursuit of feminine youth in an effort to appease the male gaze is something I think about quite often. I think you handled these topics quite well and with a lot of care. Also I am now begging you to make a huge video on fonts! Literally saying anything about them: fonts in different media, how fonts are designed, how fonts elicit feelings, etc. I love learning about stuff like that so much and would lose my mind lmao- Great video again and thanks for the awesome content :)
Toby
2025-01-25 07:36:40 +0000 UTC(Well, shoot, I started a paragraph, accidentally hit enter and posted too soon, then panic-deleted. So bear with me as I try to reconstruct my comment!) I love that you've given us a more live reaction commentary. It's impressive that even unscripted, your flow of ideas and analysis stays organized and flows without dropping threads. Regarding the yellow coat - I feel really dumb, but my first connection was yellow -> egg yolk. In that context, when Sue wears the coat, I feel like it foreshadows the second activation. This film may kind of hit you over the head with its themes and imagery, but I think your more subtle association of yellow with madness and sickness is an insightful read and an easy aspect to overlook (as I obviously did). And based on another comment about the coat being intended to place Elisabeth in a superhero-like space, it looks like you were basically correct in seeing it as insulation - although more like a shield than a bold cape.
birdeaux
2025-01-25 02:26:50 +0000 UTCRight after the “turkey stuffing” scene l love how Elisabeth looks like an old witch with the unkempt gray hair and the dragon robe draped her hunched body. Thank you always for your analysis!
sodacandy
2025-01-25 01:03:29 +0000 UTCCouple of things that I didn't hear in your video: The shower to me is kind of sitting with the reality of your actual body without trappings or framing of clothing or makeup. It's also an aggressive confrontation. Which is why we see Demi in the shower so often and Margaret only immediately after the Activation and she is in love with her body. I think there is something we get from touching that she not only looks beautiful, but she is beautiful (The qualities that we attribute as beautiful skin elasticity, muscle, fat). There is not an illusion that someone can look beyond. It's why this film is about plastic surgery and not Instagram filters, photoshop or makeup. Expanding on this, the bathroom has a lot of the same themes which is why the switch and body storage is in the bathroom. I believe the many shots of Demi outside in the yellow jacket, is this feeling of shame of being seen. That the yellow is the madness of being a woman in a culture that values so little of the person. I think we're meant to take away how grating this is on her. The boob ballon dropping to the stage is highly reminiscent of the end of Eraserhead. Which is an interesting inversion. That men give themselves wantonly at any "attractive" woman without any real consideration to all that it entails. Women also give of themselves bodily and enthusiastically into a beauty pageant our culture has created. I wonder if the final imagery with the star kind of indicates that beauty past a certain age is backwards looking. So, after ElisaSue's final transformation she hides in the memory of once being beautiful. Where she then dissolves into the memory, where she's no longer a person. Just a vacant viewer looking at a caricature of who they once were. Really enjoyed your analysis. Great film overall. Reminds me of Promising Young Woman in the way it very violently approach to themes.
John C.
2025-01-24 20:35:32 +0000 UTCYes, it’s not a one off. It happens sometimes. I wanted to learn more about boob jobs, so I booked a meeting with a surgeon to ask him all stupid questions I had. It was …an experience. Because when I started asking him about the risk and how one can prevent their breasts from going sideways, he said that there’s no way to predict or prevent it. And when I asked if they will fix if something goes wrong after, he said that they will redo the operation for the same amount of money and that it’s patient’s responsibility. One conversation and I decided that I am too neurotic for this, lol:)
Lena M.
2025-01-24 12:05:03 +0000 UTCReally glad you enjoyed it Mary! I absolutely see the Frankenstein motifs too, I was just worried people would be getting sick of me talking about Frankenstein after the Nosferatu vid. It's absolutely one of my top five books of all time and you're quite right about feminist horror owing much to it. I think you're bang on about the 'who' of the monster, especially on stage at the end, it absolutely feels like the monster revealing himself to the family only to be shunned, but I had completely missed the Elisabeth link, thank you so much for that. Yours is the last comment I've got to reply to and I honestly am now rethinking if I want to put a Substance video together for Youtube because we have so much to discuss. As to your later point - this is something I wish I'd touched on more because it absolutely shares space with the lack of characterisation around Elisabeth and in that sense we can say it is purposeful. It does feel hollow and soulless and without any kind of personal connection. Really awesome comment and spot on about the roles women fulfill within the film. Thinking about it now I'm not sure there was a single female member of film crew. Also we have the assistant to Harvey who is named, but Harvey changes that name to Cindy because it's faster and better, so they are just interchangeable service dolls. As for the *arguably degrading, it's tough right? There's layers of reality here, layers of acceptability, to the film, to this commentary, to real life and it does become tricky to define what is and isn't objectifying in a world that's simultaneously becoming more sex-positive and more aware of the harm objectification can have.
Novum
2025-01-24 11:03:46 +0000 UTCYep, love this Jared, I think if we combine it with what Aradia said above then we're really onto something.
Novum
2025-01-24 10:54:21 +0000 UTCI absolutely love this Aradia! Especially the last point as you know that's close to my heart. I think absolutely the dragon + kimono vibe fits, and you're 100% right about that, I was just wondering if we could find anything deeper in the imagery. But yeah it's absolutely the imagery for 'Boss Bitch Sue' whichever way we cut it. But I really like the interpretation of the social climbing/building your career on someone else's back. That is an amazing shout that I will definitely use if we ever discuss this again.
Novum
2025-01-24 10:53:45 +0000 UTCThat is very probably the commercial I was thinking of but couldn't name, thanks so much for pointing that out Brandon.
Novum
2025-01-24 10:50:46 +0000 UTCYeah I feel like I may have outed myself as a vegetarian during this one (non militant I'm not trying to convert anybody) and that scene really bothered me.
Novum
2025-01-24 10:50:12 +0000 UTCThis is awesome too!
Novum
2025-01-24 10:49:27 +0000 UTCI love that Phoenix, thanks so much for sharing, I'm going to have to go back and look at that shot now. This film has such a varied range of influences it's amazing!
Novum
2025-01-24 10:49:10 +0000 UTCGlad that you came out of the shadows! I couldn't agree more, normally the phrase is 'style over substance' but this has both in every sense. Really glad you enjoyed the analysis. You're so right about the birthday thing, absolutely great shout - love that analysis. I absolutely agree with you about the lens, that's just on me for not coming out with it while I did the commentary, but yeah that's absolutely part of it too. So we have 1) lens as the weapon of objectification 2) lens as a judgmental microscope 3) lens as something that calls into question the meta-reality of what we're seeing. And I guess in this film specifically: 4) Hal9000 I had no idea Margaret Qualley was wearing a fake chest! I did want to comment at one point that the boobs looked fake and go back to plastic surgery but this is a whole lot of commenting on women's bodies and I wasn't anywhere close to being sure so I'm glad I didn't now! And yeah love the meta commentary on Sue's perfection being unattainable outside of the film. Thank you so much for commenting!
Novum
2025-01-24 10:48:13 +0000 UTCYeah I'd say that's a good summation, I spent most of the film going 'oh god, oh GOD'. Glad you got to watch it though, I haven't seen the Brutalist but at present it would be my vote for Best Picture.
Novum
2025-01-24 10:42:08 +0000 UTCYeah that really stuck out to me too, the completely unrealistic-to-a-normal-life regime is something I feel more and more people are adopting as we close the gap between 'regular person' and 'kardashian'. As advertising has done it's best to adapt to criticism in the wider world, social media has skyrocketed and everyone now is advertising unrealistic select images from their life because everyone has been convinced to become their own brand. It's really insidious, I deleted my personal socials last year and haven't looked back. At least in the UK the amount of 'at home beauticians' offering lip filler/facial injections has boomed, same with people taking trips to Turkey to fix their hairline and teeth. In fact as a little aside, a friend of a colleague of my partner went to Turkey recently for her boobs done, on the way back she complains to her bf that her stiches are hurting and asks him to check her back. He's like 'wait why tf do you have stitches in your back' and long story short once they got back to the UK they found out one of their kidneys was missing. It is not worth it ladies and gentlemen, just love yourself as you are!
Novum
2025-01-24 10:38:59 +0000 UTCAlso really glad I cut the part where I talk about having surgery during the stitching! Please send my love and best wishes to them, I hope it all goes smoothly. Matter of fact you don't need to DM me their username, I'm going to DM you something to give them.
Novum
2025-01-24 10:12:05 +0000 UTCSorry about that, I've been meaning to reply to DM's! I think Mike also suggested Red Rooms so I will definitely give it a watch!
Novum
2025-01-24 10:08:28 +0000 UTCCan you please DM me their username on here
Novum
2025-01-24 10:07:44 +0000 UTCI love the long form, the references to Wilde and fairy tales, and the mash-up of genres. The movie is a little bit like Frankenstein, too. Maybe a lot like. It is no accident that so much "feminist horror" evokes Mary Shelley's work, just as so much of vampire movies owe it all to Dracula. It is an ur-text, albeit a bit of a hidden one, of body horror and gothic anxiety. I know it isn’t a complete parallel, but the idea of a monster constructed out of bodies or that monsters are not “what” but “who.” It is people who terrify us. People are the monster, and we terrify ourselves. The men in this movie are disgusting, but Elizabeth does participate in and profit from the social structures that perpetuate the self-loathing that eventually consumes her. In the end she does not birth a monster, she uses science and technology to bring Sue to life. Even that line about “everything in the right place” reads much like a part of Frankenstein where his beautiful teeth and hair are compared to his stretched out skin that barely covers his body. His appearance is directly linked to his identity as a monster rather than human: he is too big, too ugly. This movie even gets down with the creation of two monsters, the second of which, like The Bride, (whose real name is Elizabeth, in the book) is a particularly abortive effort capable of inspiring profound violence. The movie’s reality is purposefully blank and empty- there is no “substance” to be had in anyone’s life in this movie. It isn’t just Elizabeth- the movie doesn’t present us with anyone who has any family, friends, or lovers of deep connection. The human heart and soul do not exist- the audience accepts this as blithely as we assume that the “New Year’s Eve Show” is this world’s version of a highly sexual version of the Golden Globes. Do we meet any other named female characters (besides Sarah, I guess.) We meet Harvey, Oliver, Fred, and Troy, but do we see any women doing anything besides waitressing or performing for cameras? Even the nurse is a man- it is as if women in this movie (at least the ones presented as working for a living) can only perform* degrading services or be the object of the camera's gaze. Elizabeth and Sue are capable of agency and make themselves into monsters, but the world they live in is a dark one, with no soul to it, and there doesn't seem to be any other road they can walk. *arguably degrading. I am in the service industry, for what its worth. But I would totally give it all up for my own sexy exercise show.
Mary Francis Cheeseman
2025-01-24 07:05:46 +0000 UTCI got a kind of social or work climbers vibe about coming out of the back. Sue is coming out of Elisabeth's back like I am here to betray you (stabbing in the back) The dragon simply because she is wearing a Kimono? Pink and sparkly for Sue and dragon for boss bitch Elizabeth and reminding us they are one. Dude on the motorcycle coming at the viewer is like the light at the end of the tunnel, it could be hope or an oncoming train. I wanted to add my impression of the food matrix substance being "other" and milky white, it reminded me of the android blood in Alien.
Aradia Morningstar
2025-01-24 04:05:34 +0000 UTCIt’s the grossest thing in the entire movie and I haven’t been able to shake it for months
Brandon Hunt
2025-01-24 03:50:10 +0000 UTCNice work as always. Wanted to point out that @2:03:17 that’s probably paying homage to the famous Cindy Crawford Pepsi commercials. You probably are aware of this but Margaret Qualley’s mom is Andie MacDowell (who was a famous model among Cindy Crawford’s peers at the time).
Brandon Hunt
2025-01-24 03:49:35 +0000 UTCHijack @novum, I’d DM you, but I don’t think you saw my last one. You HAVE to see Red Rooms. Quebecois film and super solid. 7+ horror/thriller on IMDB Psyched to watch this. Cheers
TheRealAntiher0
2025-01-24 02:16:02 +0000 UTCmy best friend (and fellow novum patron) is having surgery today, excited to watch this with them during recovery
Clay Moth
2025-01-24 00:31:29 +0000 UTCThe Harvey eating shrimp scene was absolutely horrifying to me. It almost desensitized me to the rest of the movie and may have unlocked a new phobia.
Greatest Hits
2025-01-23 19:49:15 +0000 UTCI can't remember where I read it but Fargeat said that she wanted the ending to be long and drawn out, like Return of the King. In the script, the old withered Elisabeth is even called "Gollum Elisabeth".
Phoenix
2025-01-23 18:00:59 +0000 UTCAbout the yellow coat, Coralie Fargeat said in her vogue interview "I wanted it to place her in a superhero-like space". When Elisabeth is getting ready for the date there's a great shot from the floor of the hallway where the bottom of the coat sort of snaps over the camera as she walks down the hall. It's very reminiscent of something we'd see in a Batman movie where he's getting suited up.
Phoenix
2025-01-23 17:49:05 +0000 UTCOmg visceral - hadn’t seen the movie before tho I heard a ton about it. Fun to do a watch along with your commentary. I looked away from the screen so much - it’s so good but so gross good lord.
Erica Weston
2025-01-23 16:47:54 +0000 UTCim usually just someone who lurks here, but the substance is one of the most stylish movies to stick in my head in recent memory and this video was amazing!! i loved your analysis, genuinely such a treat. I did notice myself that in the beginning when Elizabeth is walking down the hallway, three people stop to tell her happy birthday. I noticed you didn't comment on it, but to me I thought it was a great indication that despite her smile and general upbeat attitude, Elizabeth (and the industry) was already fully and painfully aware of her age. If it was just a narrative element to make her being fired more tragic, it couldve been one person mentioning it. But the fact that three people say it to her in quick succession makes me think...oh, this is /supposed/ to be annoying, a forced and repeated reminder that she is getting older. I also wanted to contribute my interpretation of the constant focus on camera lenses in this movie, which is that it represents general scrutiny from both the self (which uses the lens as a mirror) and the viewing public (who "exist" behind the lens). In the first scene where Demi Moore is doing her exercise show, you point out the camera, questioning whether this scene is objectifying Elizabeth. When i first watched it, i thought it had the same effect as putting a microscope up to the women, and with the imposingness of the still shot, the implication of paranoia and self consciousness. The shot of the lens is so impassive and blank - it just gives this energy that the camera itself is completely unimpressed, no matter what is in front of it. One last thing is that an element I feel is really relevant to any analysis on this movie, is the fact that margaret qualley's...chest....was entirely fake, as in it was a prosthetic that she wore. The information that this idea of youthful perfection is inherently unreachable provides an amazing layer, that i think is most significantly felt in the scene where Elizabeth is spiralling over her makeup. This standard she was grasping, in a meta-textual way, was only achievable through means impossible to achieve naturally.
morosecity
2025-01-23 15:24:20 +0000 UTCAh shit Glen, I’m sorry to hear that dude. If people could upvote this comment or Glens comment if they had similar difficulties and if we get to five I will re-export with altered sound? I am realising that in an effort to make the sound ‘better’ a lot of the steps I’ve taken also provide more opportunity for complexity and things to go wrong. It’s also annoying that the film is a lot of silence and then a lot of very loud out of nowhere, I tried to accommodate for that and may have over compensated in places. I would just upload a private copy to YouTube (which does sound normalising now) but there’s too much nudity and I wasn’t remotely careful about dodging copyright. So I’ll give it a day or so and see how many people have the same issue. Apologies again dude.
Novum
2025-01-23 08:55:10 +0000 UTCAs a woman who has dealt with a great deal of self image issues (and still dealing tbh), I saw this movie as a very precise depiction of what women are ready to go through to achieve beauty. Boob jobs (with up to 3 months of recovery and pain), butt enhancement after which you can’t sleep on your back for a year, nose jobs with all the bleeding after, veneers, painful cosmetology procedures, diets which destroy your pancreas, fitness till you die in the gym. It’s all very painful and expensive, yet still a lot of ppl do it and gladly pay thousands for it. Crazy!
Lena M.
2025-01-23 07:16:09 +0000 UTCThanks so much for the video!! Seeing you post this actually motivated me to go watch this film immediately and get it off my watchlist and I’m glad I did. I love the “let’s watch”-esque format and your commentary is spot on as always.
Devin Witt
2025-01-23 04:12:57 +0000 UTCThe spine symbolizes courage, integrity, and the strength of character—qualities often described as having a “strong backbone.” The drug might amplify traits already present in a person, so someone with metaphorical “spinal weakness” (e.g., moral frailty, indecision, or cowardice) could misuse or be overwhelmed by the drug. A strong spine metaphorically suggests an individual who can handle the drug’s potential to empower without succumbing to corruption, fear, or loss of control. Unfortunately, it seems likely that everyone succumbs to the temptation of youth, no matter your strength of character.
Jared
2025-01-23 03:54:43 +0000 UTCI'm actually really dying to watch this special treat tomorrow! I really respect you trying something different , thank you so much! #horrorislife
Aradia Morningstar
2025-01-23 03:38:13 +0000 UTCBeing up-beat and positive at work in the first scene is poking at “pretty girl should always smile” misogyny.
Jared
2025-01-23 02:21:48 +0000 UTCThanks for this impeccable video, Novum... at 37:27, but with this scene I automatically thought of the lyrics from Ironic by Alanis Morissette, even though it isn't about irony lol
Amanda Reep
2025-01-23 02:05:42 +0000 UTCWe all go a little mad sometimes.
Benny Ford
2025-01-23 00:23:16 +0000 UTCThanks for the video Novum! Audio mixing was a little difficult to follow the movie sounds with your voice, had to turn up the volume when the movie was playing and quiet it down when you were speaking to get all the dialogue.
Glen Curtis
2025-01-23 00:09:34 +0000 UTCWhen Elisabeth hits the floor after injecting the activator, the position of her head against the tiles reminds me of Janet Leigh in Psycho, when she stumbles out of the shower and slams down on the bathroom floor. (We get a close up of Janet's eye too)
Phoenix
2025-01-22 23:39:03 +0000 UTCI just got to the car accident scene. Maybe we needed to see her car get totaled to justify all of the walking she does? Or to drive home (hehe) the idea that self obsession is a recurring theme in her life to the point of literally endangering herself? Just a couple of half-baked commentaries as I watch your commentary (which I so badly needed today. Thank you.)
Phoenix
2025-01-22 22:48:59 +0000 UTCThanks Novum - your videos always make me think and dive into another world for a few hours. Can't wait to watch the Nosferatu one as soon as I see the film.
Alison
2025-01-22 21:47:57 +0000 UTC🔥
Fourth Horseman
2025-01-22 21:45:20 +0000 UTCNot watching this at the office then😅
Valeriia Shvets
2025-01-22 21:40:45 +0000 UTC
