Almost There: Margaret Qualley in "The Substance"
Monday, February 10, 2025 at 4:00PM 
In an awards season full of co-leads pretending to be supporting players, nepo babies, and festival hits, it's a wonder Margaret Qualley didn't get a nomination for her work in The Substance. Coralie Fargeat's film is up for five Oscars, being the current frontrunner in Actress and Makeup, a major triumph for a picture such as this, where body horror elements are remixed and reimagined for a made-in-France Hollywood satire. It's gross, like few star vehicles in the Academy's history, so outré as to be off-putting and bold as all hell. In that regard, its closest Oscar relative is Black Swan, whose Mila Kunis, like Qualley, got major precursor and critical support but failed to secure the AMPAS' seal of approval…
Around half an hour into The Substance, after Demi Moore's Elisabeth Sparkle injects herself with the titular drug, a new her emerges from the woman's back. Well, not a new her, exactly, no matter what the mysterious voices on the phone might say. Both the old body and this idealization are meant to be one, the same consciousness splitting its time between two material selves. But, in practice, are they one? From the moment Margaret Qualley's Sue enters the picture, it's hard to recognize Moore in her. That's not so much a performance error as it is the point both actresses are making in their connected characters.
Nevertheless, Qualley is doing a lot to telegraph the idea of someone enjoying a transformation rather than a full-fledged newborn in a Playboy model's body. Regard how she regards herself, posture jutting her breasts forward, shock melting away into self-satisfaction with each breath. There's also her relationship with Demi Moore's prone form on the bathroom floor. Early on, the audience can still recognize sympathy between the two versions of an erstwhile star reborn, her sorrowful queasiness as she sews shut the chasm of Elisabeth's spine. That feeling won't last long, vanishing as soon as Sue gets her ticket to the top.
Because, almost as soon as she's given the chance, Qualley portrays her character as a monster of superhuman confidence, nailing the mesmeric nature of her audition for her old self's old job. Henceforth, whatever vulnerability the younger actress is asked to perform is more physical than psychological, as Sue's organism starts shutting down whenever she hasn't taken her stabilizer – harvested directly from Elisabeth – or is reaching the end of their seven-day cycle. Initially, it's very little compared to the excruciating pain Moore must pantomime. But Coralie Fargeat's Hollywood fairy tale turned nightmare will get there. After all, no such Faustian bargain can go right.
In the meantime, before it all goes to shit, Qualley gets to articulate Sue's quick disassociation from who she is on her weeks off. Every time she looks at Moore's unconscious figure, there's an increased note of disdain, disgust, downright hatred. It's a caricature in line with The Substance's shameless camp, a carnival mirror reflection of self-loathing taken to impossible extremes that's also a parody of how media commodifies women. Not that Sue is a dream with other people and only reserves her venom for Elisabeth. She's always using and lying and manipulating, a limitless hunger that comes after years of feeling the world's favor wither away. In some ways, she's always performing, whether scorn or superiority, a simulacrum of womanhood as something to be consumed. Fargeat is channeling Brian Yuzna while Qualley is channeling deconstructed Penthouse.
The biggest example of this dynamic happens in the workplace when Sue feigns a sweet, girl-next-door persona, all wide-eyed and bushy-tailed. But as soon as she's out of sight, that pretension melts away and we're confronted with the cat that ate the canary and can now see licking its chops in predatorial delight. It happens again when Sue gets a kick out of her neighbor's obvious want or when a one-night stand compliments what he sees as the starlet's supercharged beauty. Qualley plays it up to the cheap seats, understanding that the joke of Sue's existence depends on how unreachable she is, even to the audience, capriciousness and all.
Fittingly, she broadens her register tenfold as the balance between the two selves grows more and more unstable. Sue's chicken leg nightmare gives us a hint of where Qualley's willing to go in embodying panic. Like the imagery Fargeat and her makeup team conjure, it's visceral and stomach-churning. A similar effect is achieved when Sue gets news of her New Year's Eve gig, face convulsing with brimming tears before she realizes the good fortune and reverts to euphoria. Her late-night interview is another peak in the Jekyll and Hyde cum Dorian Grey routine she's got going with Demi Moore, staged as if in a mocking conversation where only one of the parties can react to her adversary.
The selfishness crescendo culminates on that fateful morning when, upon finding the apartment wrecked by Elisabeth, Sue screams that iconic "control yourself" and decides she's going to live full time as her best self and screw the seven-day cycle. It's a terrible mistake that brings forth the film's final act, kickstarted when Elisabeth tries to dispose of Sue but regrets it at the last second. The imbroglio awakens the two selves simultaneously, with Qualley able, at long last, to interact with her co-star. Not that there's much time for them to square off face-to-face. Unrestrained by the camera's need for likability, Sue unleashes all her rage.
Self-hatred is thus literalized with murder, and though the Monstro is still to come, Margaret Qualley becomes the scariest villain The Substance has to offer. It's savagery without limits, so wanton even Sue wavers in its aftermath. Facing the consequences of her actions, there's cold fear trickling into the characterization. The clock is ticking away, teeth are falling off along with the supreme confidence that had been the linchpin of Qualley's work so far. It's not especially complex acting past its simulation of mania, but it gets to the essence of The Substance. It conveys Elisabeth/Sue's poor opinion of themselves so strongly you can practically taste it. You can certainly understand why she'd take the magic drug again.
It doesn't work, birthing Monstro ElisaSue in all her fleshy ignobility. Buried beneath pounds of makeup, Qualley is handed her greatest challenge yet, mostly inexpressive beyond her right eye, her hands, the quiver of a mouth under another mouth. It's the pièce de résistance of the actress's work in The Substance, if not her whole career, all the more impressive by how little of her we can perceive. But make no mistake – the final act needs a game performance to function. How else would we understand the rhapsodies of pain falling into the abyss of absurdity as ElisaSue tries to pretty herself up for the New Year's show? If you can't recognize this tragicomic brio in the image Qualley's projecting, at least consider her pitiful cries. "It's me," she screams, but it doesn't matter. The world never loved her for who she was.
Margaret Qualley finished the season as the regional critics champion in the Best Supporting Actress race. Additionally, she was nominated at the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards. The SAG and BAFTA snubs were the first indicators that her Oscar bid wouldn't come to fruition, and on nomination morning, it was confirmed. Qualley wasn't among AMPAS' golden quintet. Instead, the Academy nominated Monica Barbaro in A Complete Unknown, Ariana Grande in Wicked, Felicity Jones in The Brutalist, Isabella Rossellini in Conclave, and Zoë Saldaña in Emilia Pérez. We'll know which of them takes home Hollywood's most coveted trophy on March 2nd.
The Substance is streaming on MUBI. It's still in some cinemas, and you can also rent it from Amazon, Apple TV, Fandango at Home, and Spectrum On Demand.
Reader Comments (8)
Definitely deserved a nomination and the film was a 2-hander. But I will say I found Demi's performance stuck with me more overall.
The Mila Kunis comparison is very true.
Like Portman sucked up all the energy in the room during her run up to the Oscar win so has Demi this year.
I was reminded during the write up how fantastic she is in the last section of the film,hard to believe it's her under all that make up but she makes you care.
Pushed aside for Rossellini and her door antics.
Very far from Kunis.
Kunis was a real supporting and didn’t had any oscar material in that role (Hershley had it).
Qualley is lead and personally I preferred her to Moore (thery’re both spectacular, let’s be clear).
Can we make an article on how a disaster is supporting actress this year?
Two excellent performances that are obscene category fraud, a good performance in a s**tty movie, poor Rossellini nominated for being a background actress and well… Jones is good and also the movie
MQ understood the assignment and really gave it her all, but then so did her mother 35 years ago in another sexy role. Without a longer resume of more mainstream roles, as her costar has, I think she'll be more likely to make it in if she does ultimately play it "safe" at some point, but, that really doesn't seem to be her inclination in her film career so far.
I kept reading the Kunis comparison all season long and thinking, though I understand the parallel, it's not the same thing. This is a lead role (very hot right now in this category), and she gets a lot more to do than Kunis.
But y'all were right! She got Kunis-ed!
Gallavich: not a disaster- i like all 3 supporting performances - but not spectacular. If something like Jamie Lee and Aunjanue Ellis got in instead of the leads, it would be a pretty fun category to talk about.
My pick for the win from these nominess is Grande though I haven't seen Monica,Felicity,Jamie Lee,Fanninh,Austin or Ellis.
My own winner at the moment from my awards is the totally overlooked by the main shows Joan Chen in DiDi,what a fanatic return.
I will never ever understand what happened.
Our best young actress.
Plus Death Becomes Her plus Kafka's Metamorphosis plus The Twilight Zone...