‘The Substance’ composer believes the movie “is very deserving of awards”

Posted On December 17, 2024December 17, 2024

In an exclusive interview with Far Out, the composer behind the score for Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance discussed the movie’s awards prospects. Raffertie, who has been composing film and television scores for over a decade while maintaining his solo music career, said that he hopes to see the director and lead actors nominated across the board.

“I think the film is very deserving of awards,” he said. “Certainly Coralie, I think Demi [Moore], Margaret [Qualley] — they’re both, their performances are amazing, you know, and I really respect the artistic choices that they made in the roles… They all deserve awards, absolutely in anything that they can be nominated in.”

The film centres around an Oscar-winning actor, portrayed by Moore, whose career is falling apart as she reaches her 50s. When she loses her job hosting a television fitness show, she decides to try a mysterious new treatment called The Substance that promises to create a younger, more beautiful version of herself, played by Qualley. The side effects, however, are gruesome in the extreme.

In this vein, Raffertie singled out the visual effects and sound design as being particularly worthy of awards attention. As The Substance takes a physical toll on Moore’s character, the visual effects become more and more striking, a subtle build to a body horror climax that has had audiences fleeing theatres ever since the film was released at Cannes earlier this year. The sound design is equally arresting, dove-tailing perfectly with Raffertie’s nerve-shredding score.

As for his own awards prospects, the composer is more circumspect. “I don’t know about the score,” he said. “[I]t would be nice to be in the conversation, but I’m not expecting anything.”

As awards season ramps up, the film is poised to score big. This is despite the fact that, as Raffertie noted, anything branded as a horror movie will always struggle to be taken seriously or be nominated, let alone win.

So far, The Substance is looking strong. Fargeat won ‘Best Screenplay’ at the Cannes Film Festival in May, and the film has been nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards – one for ‘Best Picture’ and the other for ‘Best Lead Performance’ for Moore. Most significant so far are the five Golden Globe nominations it has earned for ‘Best Picture – Comedy or Musical,’ ‘Best Director’ for Fargeat, ‘Best Actress’ for Moore, ‘Best Supporting Actress’ for Qualley, and ‘Best Screenplay’ for Fargeat.

The Academy Award nominations have yet to be announced before the March 2nd ceremony, but The Substance appears to have strong support among critics and audiences. The Oscars are chosen by powerful members of the film industry, including directors, actors, editors, sound designers, and producers. It remains to be seen how the film and its creators will fare among their peers.

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