Great analysis. Just watched this last night. I assumed Elisabeth and Sue had one mind as Sue knew what she needed to do as soon as she was born, she had to sew up Elisabeth. Because she had read the instructions as Elisabeth. Sue also knew how to do aerobics, because it was Elisabeths mind. So every time Sue screwed Elisabeth over, she was doing it to herself, because she hates herself.

It is biblical... The substance or the apple brings out the devilish version of Elizabeth.. who is jealous, impulsive and doesn't respect the balance... She is indeeed what Elizabeth used to be when she was young.. Could that be as well..

I came to the exact same conclusion myself and something that made me realise that was the scene between Vincent and Sandra at night. Vincent says, “You look like a dog” and then clarifies that he didn’t mean it in a negative way. Almost as if to say, “It really looks like you killed him but I truly don’t believe you did”

If Elisabeth called Fred instead of the substance number after she went home from the bar she would have a very happy life while aging gracefully. I guess it is hard to let go of the life you’re used to esp when her job is the only thing that truly mattered to her. She didn’t marry, nobody looked for her when she was away, she was used of being alone. She only realized she should have called him when she wanted to feel beautiful as her regular old self. I really wish she went out with Fred. He was so sweet and adorkable.

Who is here in 2025❤🎉

Loved your take! Very unique and in-depth, it deepened my understanding more than the other reviews for sure. Made me appreciate the film in a whole new way.

I was with until you said “it’s not her fault, society made her like that”. EVERYONE has a choice, and everyone must take responsibility for their actions. Elizabeth had a second chance in life, she could choose anything, and chose to go back to the same hostile environment that treated her like a disposable asset. Society can’t get any better if we keep encouraging people to throw their blame on others.

Great Points! There's a load of emphasis on "they're going to love you" on the last scene, Elizabeth suffering from "lack of love" in her life, not only fame, I guess it's "unmet emotional needs" in her childhood which is an abuse, she doesn't have any close friends, that reminds me of underground man in the book of Dostoyevski "Notes from Underground". Her need for love pushed her limits in every possible way, but the insecure attachment didn't allow her to have good connections with others, Fred was her High School friend, he knew young Elisabeth, not old junk Elisabeth, this should be why she refused to meet Fred. Lastly, the activator shot in the end turns Sue into a better version of herself as a Monster Elisasue which is a complete version of herself, she died by a happy face since she felt complete, which was three pineapple tree; old, young and current Elisabeth.

So it wasn't a murder or suicide. It was an accidental death.

👏👏👏👏 You did an amazing job here

Wtf is this shitty interpretation?

The really sad scene is when she remembered the man that she met from her younger days. He was crazy about her and would have been thrilled just to be with her. And she reached out and made a date with him but then she felt she was not worthy to go out with someone that really wanted to be with her. That really hit home. 😢

OK but pointing out that the dent was indeed on the roof of the shed is massive. It basically confirms Sandra did not murder him, as the only other way those blood splashes could have happened would have been if she attacked him and pushed him. While this video may not be 100% serious, it does confirm that she didn't kill him. It was either a suicide or accident.

I loved this movie. Thanks for the great video.

I was scared of the old man in the restaurant

W analysis

I loved this movie from the surface-level meaning alone (female self-image and society), but I'm so glad this vid gave me more perspectives. The answer was in my face the whole time, THEY ARE ONE, and everything one does affects the other. I love how that's an allegory of our future and past self, I'm even experiencing that now.

man you’re so fucking based

in The Culture of Narcissism, Christopher Lasch has a section on the fear of aging and death that is typical in a culture of narcissism, which has less to do with beauty standards in particular than it has to do with consumer culture and affluence more generally. the film itself is a form of "exposure therapy" for narcissists, with all of the problems that encounter groups and therapists are supposed to help people with, which is the opposite of being mature and autonomous. no wonder the Hollywood elites like this piece of total garbage

This was awesome, confirms what the obvious message was and peels back the layers underneath that we could all probably feel but not articulate, love it

Beautifully researched and I loved the movie

This movie just repeats the message on how much society values youth and beauty. As we age, society sees us as less valuable to the point we get rejected and become invisible and deemed obsolete. Age discrimination is everywhere. We desperately try to hold on to youth at almost at any cost to avoid being rejected. Just look at how well the cosmetic surgery industry is thriving. People are willing to put their live in danger trying to hold on to youth even though there's no way to escape old age.

Hang on. You say Harvey holds Elisabeth back, but when she creates her "best version" she becomes no better than her previous self. Did Elisabeth ever have bigger ambitions? Is the question I ponder. Actually, the introduction to the substance is very interesting. Notice how the sphere can only be described as perfect, because the shape has been defined by the word sphere. In order to be a sphere, it must conform to the human construct of a sphere. But what could be more perfect than being completely undefined, and unique?

It’s the self sabotage and self hatred that was so disturbing to me. That’s how I took the illusion of separation of self.

This movie was a masterpiece

I also found this film to be absolutely hilarious.

wow. god bless you lad. of course a non-american will be the person who gets it, LOL! either way good on you man, well done.

Hot damm to just leave her like that. Cold hearted.

great video!

Great analysis.

Bravo on the breakdown. My problem with The Substance is you have to get through all the ugly, repulsive imagery just to learn a lesson that you probably already knew anyway.

Value is a very spiritual thing. Recognize that God values you. life without God, without spirituality, is a life like hers. Try to be at peace with all life stages. It's spiritual work.

Wealth is an infinitely safer source of status status than beauty, because it only grows over time.

Its so relieving to finally hear someone say the things that make this movie so nuisanced to me. Perfectly articulated what the movie was getting at in my opinion

Thé mother and thé doughter

Thank you for such an insightful video - so much so I've taken notes to ponder on! You've added a lot of depth to the existing conversations around this movie, hopefully now I've got the guts to finally watch it! Eeeek!

With "Film Theory" no longer at the top, I'm glad someone like you is doing the hard work to give insights into films like this. This is exactly what I was looking for and you explained it perfectly. Keep it up!

I would pay to watch Kim kardashians reaction to this video 😅

You earned a subscriber. Great insight!

Thank you for actually explaining this moive ...l appreciate you so much.

The 503 backwards meaning “Elisabeth O Sue” doesn’t make a lot of sense to me since she didn’t name her younger self Sue until after taking the substance

One of the best analysis I’ve seen for this movie thank you for sharing it

it’s interesting that the monster chose the elisabeth image instead of the sue image for her face mask ...

Yeah they are the same person. I think if your whole identity is earned by external evaluation, your personality alters significantly when your body (the visual signifier recognized by others) switches. I also hate myself very much like Elisabeth, and can’t stand a moment with myself alone, and always seek for external recognition or distraction by escapism or entertainment. Whenever the place i’m in changes, my personality changes like the body switch of the Substance.

I really love the angle of your younger self stealing from your older self and how that is made visual in this movie because its something either gender can relate to. I think its interesting that the first subject of the substance was an old man, wanting to recapture the beauty and success of his young years the same way Elizabeth does and works in a career that is also notorious for long hours, high pressure and poor interpersonal relationships. I think there's very few people on this earth who when they're young really think about how they're going to affect their older selves decades from now or who wouldn't want to go back and be young again as much as they might resent the choices they made as a different person and wish they could slap or stop themselves.

it was clear to me throughout that they shared a consciousness. i guess imagine that you left your apartment a mess in a rush to party, and drank a bunch. the next morning, you wake up blaming the version of you yesterday for the mess and the hangover. a visualisation of "that's tomorrow me's problem". and i thought the hatred that elisabeth and sue had for each other (themselves) really hammered the fact that the substance was never going to work. in a setting where the substance is a clone of a younger self, people who love themselves would not take the substance, and people who are desperate enough to take the substance value youth enough to want more of it at the expense of their bodies. also, i've seen people go "oh i could never take the substance" but i think thats inherently just because youth is not the thing they value. for example, a football player who has a knee injury that affects their mobility might take the substance if it meant every other week they have a good knee. this is granted that thier whole identity is fixated around their football skills. and it wont be so easy for them to "respect the balance", if, say, the day of the grand final was placed within the week where they had the knee injury. and it reveals something devastating about elisabeth sparkle, her career didnt end because she suffered a blunt injury like the example i listed, an injury is a terrible thing, but things achieved by accident/force. an outlier. all she did was age, an uncontrollable process that everybody goes through, and society made her feel like that wasn't okay. she wasn't able to make a living anymore solely because she aged and it's the reality for many women. edit: I wrote majority of this before I watched the video I guess the creator & I had the same idea in many ways! loved the video!

I read the movie in this way too! I loved the movie because of its symbolism and its multiple layers of meaning... it's about the you that loves and values immeadite, easy and dissmisive gratification so much that it´s willing to sacrifice your own health and wellbeing in the process; it´s willing to hate and harm itself for the sake of pleasure... The self is not a permanent Substance, it´s a process, very true!

Glad you finished the video, it was awesome!

It’s symbolic for them cracking the code to immortality - Demi, Ashton & Mila CIA assets & the whole thing been a massive operation.

Sue would know the number because the split happened after Elisabeth got it. I think they needed more obvious reasons to show they were one.