Commentary: The Odd Dichotomy Between ‘Together’ And ‘The Substance’
by Frank Martin
It’s a common phenomenon that similar movies often release at similar times. It happens for any number of reasons, and examples include the killer asteroid films Armageddon and Deep Impact as well as the magician movies The Illusionist and The Prestige. But rarely do films released at similar times take completely opposite thematic approaches to their stories. It’s interesting to see the contrast between such plots, and that’s the way audiences could look at The Substance and Together.
The Substance is a highly satirical movie about the entertainment industry. It focuses on a fading starlet named Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore), who takes an underground drug that creates a younger doppelganger from her body. Taking the name Sue (Margaret Qualley), this doppelganger becomes a star of her own. The tension between the two halves eventually erupts in deadly fashion.
Together centers on a couple, Tim (Dave Franco) and Milie (Alison Brie), who become cursed after moving to a rural area. It causes them to be supernaturally pulled towards one another. The attraction continues until their bodies merge and become a completely new single person.
These two horror films are wildly different. Although they both have a significant amount of body horror, their tones exist on different ends of the spectrum. The Substance has a lot of exaggerated cinematography while Together is rather grounded. However, the thematic similarities, which are poised against each other, is stark. The Substance is about one person seeking to split herself into two while Together is about two people merging into one. It’s rare enough to see such films play out over opposing concepts, and the fact that both films were released relatively close to one another is an interesting coincidence.
Together is now streaming on Hulu. The Substance is now streaming on HBO Max.
