When she begins the process, it unleashes a kind of Cronenbergian horror: her spine splits open and out of it emerges a woman (Margaret Qualley) who’s ready to take on the world. Calling this radiant, younger version of herself Sue, she gets the job to replace herself on the fitness show and is, initially, elated. But when the time comes to return to her real body, a kind of depression descends. Slowly, the two sides of her begin to lash out at each other—Sue at Elisabeth for her incessant binge-eating and mindless TV watching, which leaves their apartment a mess, and Elisabeth at Sue for making her feel so utterly inadequate. It’s then that Sue begins to bend the rules of the procedure, remaining in her younger form for longer than instructed. When Elisabeth returns, she finds that she’s beginning to age at a more rapid pace as a result.
Where the film goes from here has to be seen to be believed—it’s a gonzo, breathless descent into the abyss which, in the early screening I attended, had viewers gasping, shrieking, laughing, and cheering all the way through. What plays out on screen may seem far-fetched—and certainly, it’s wise to leave any regard for logic at the door, especially for the film’s final set piece—but in a world where people are pumping their bodies with Ozempic; one where Linda Evangelista, persuaded by ads which asked her if she liked what she saw in the mirror, submitted to a CoolSculpting treatment which she says left her “unrecognizable,” it also feels oddly prescient.
There’s a scene about halfway through where Elisabeth, in her own, older body, is preparing to go on a date. Haunted by the image of Sue on a billboard outside her window, she keeps changing her outfit and make-up, perpetually dissatisfied with her own reflection. In the end, she scrubs it all off her face in a rage. In a film where Moore does many more outlandish things, it was this moment that most stuck with me—tragically relatable and expertly acted, a scene which could conceivably show up in an Oscar reel come 2025. It is, without doubt, the performance of her career.
