Character Studies: Elisabeth Sparkle in The Substance

There are few experiences as disorienting as disliking a movie you believed you would love. No, not just love—a movie you thought might have been cooked up in a lab specifically for you. Seeing a movie like this, with such high expectations, all but guarantees disappointment. You need to walk in maintaining a balance of excitement and humility. Excitement, of course, because you’re sure you’re about to see a movie that delivers on its promise; humility because you undoubtedly won’t.

I learned about The Substance from a trailer on Instagram and immediately sent the clip to friends, building a network of people who might see it with me the week it came out. I’m drawn to art that explores the damning impact of the beauty industry on our bodies. My first novel, The Atmospherians, follows a failed skincare influencer in a world where men have taken to inexplicably spending their free time together in hordes; my second, People Collide, is about a husband and wife who swap bodies. The Substance bridges my interests in goopy sci-fi and mutating bodies. I believed the film would expand on my own obsessions, exposing me to ideas I hadn’t yet considered. Here was a visually arresting, stylized film criticizing the relentless exploitation of women. Here was Margaret Qualley, an actress I love, trying something strange and combative. Here was the perfect movie for me.