The Substance feels uniquely modern in its critique of beauty standards and aging in Hollywood. However, it seems Coralie Fargeat had the foundational idea in her head almost a decade before its release, as her short film Reality+ feels like the blueprint for the Oscar-nominated horror movie. If The Substance is a biological analysis of image, Reality+ is a technological examination, focusing on the way we use filters to alter our image. The procedure feels much more widespread, and whilst…
A Decade Before ‘The Substance,’ Its Director Gave Us Another Equally Strange, Equally Watchable Sci-Fi Film About Beauty Standards
