In 2024, audiences were treated with not one but two darkly comic cautionary tales about the perils of the pursuit of beauty. Much like Demi Moore’s character in “The Substance” (more on that title later), Sebastian Stan’s Edward is a failing actor who tries to get his professional career back on track by undergoing an experimental medical procedure that drastically transforms his appearance.
Edward’s desire to reinvent himself as a conventionally handsome guy seems validated at first, as he quickly lands on his feet as a real estate agent, secures a role in an off-Broadway play based on his own life, and begins dating the cute girl-next-door (Renate Reinsve). But writer-director Aaron Schimberg pulls a great bait and switch by introducing Adam Pearson’s Oswald — a man who also happens to be born with disfiguring neurofibromatosis, but who lives life to the fullest, refuses to let his condition define his sense of self-worth, and ultimately replaces Edward in the play. The implication is clear: Edward’s deep-rooted insecurity and need for external validation not only brings him greater misery but also cost him the role he was, in essence, born to play.
