The Substance is a brilliant, bold and bonkers film—a body-horror satire that explores themes of ageism, beauty standards, and identity through the story of Elizabeth who undergoes a radical transformation using a mysterious experimental product. Recently honoured across the Oscars, BAFTAs, Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards, and more, Coralie Fargeat crafted a visually striking and psychologically intense cinematic experience—one driven by a precise and uncompromising creative vision. Bringing key elements of this vision to life, production designer Stanislas Reydellet and set decorator Cécilia Blom worked closely with Fargeat to shape the film’s world. Their work on The Substance film sets showcases meticulous attention to colour, furniture, symbolism, and cinematic influences, while also solving the practical challenges of crafting unforgettable scenes.

In a recent conversation with Film and Furniture’s Paula Benson, Reydellet shares the immense creative effort behind the film’s distinctive aesthetic—from the stark, minimalist apartment to surreal corridors and blood-drenched sequences.

We invite you to take a read below, watch our video interview for more insights, or listen to The Film and Furniture Podcast on Podbean, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all your favourite podcast platforms.

A film made with an uncompromising vision

From the outset, The Substance was no ordinary production. Filming took place over 110 days, with an additional 20 days dedicated solely to close-up detail shots.

“We realised early on that Coralie had a very determined vision,” says Reydellet. “She wanted to manage every detail, which is unusual for a director. But that’s what made this film so unique. There’s a visual grammar to The Substance that is entirely her own.”

This attention to detail extended to every aspect of The Substance film sets, from the grandeur of Elizabeth’s apartment to the unsettlingly long corridors and the visceral practical effects.

Elizabeth and Sue’s apartment: A reflection of isolation

At the heart of the The Substance is Elizabeth’s (Demi Moore) apartment in LA—a vast yet sparsely furnished space that reflects her loneliness and detachment from the world.

“The idea was to position Elizabeth at the top of society, almost like she’s on a hill, with the rest of the world beneath her,” Reydellet explains. “Everything in her home is a reflection of her past life—but it’s deliberately out of time, blending influences from the 1940s to the 1990s.”

The apartment’s lack of personal possessions reinforces her sense of disconnection. “Coralie wanted emptiness, just a few objects that serve the action and then disappear. The space itself had to feel vast yet isolating.”

As Elizabeth’s psychological state deteriorates and her younger self, Sue (Margaret Qualley) begins to take over, so does the space around her. The luxurious peach velvet bed covers transform into dark midnight blue satin (a top-shot influenced by American Beauty, 1999).

The modern chairs in her living area are replaced by a worn-out armchair, where she spends her days watching TV—an intentional nod to Requiem for a Dream (2000). These subtle shifts in furniture and décor mirror her unraveling mind.

Living Area

The main space features a sofa and matching armchairs sourced from Eichholtz Official (contact us for details). Next to one of these, where Elizabeth sits in one striking scene, we see a striking Murano glass lamp, almost identical to one we’ve sourced (contact us for more information).

Dining Area

The glass dining table is surrounded by white and gold chairs (seen left above), sourced from Galerie Canavese, an antique dealer in Saint-Germain-des-Prés. A bold blue sculptural lamp, rented from an antique flea dealer in Saint-Ouen, sits atop a wooden sideboard.

Kitchen

Elizabeth’s kitchen area features a vibrant orange La Marie chair, adding a pop of colour.

It’s a clinical, white-tiled bathroom, heavily inspired by the art installations of Jean-Pierre Raynaud. Among Raynaud’s best-known projects is La Maison (Home) (1968-93), a 25-year endeavour in which he obsessively covered every surface of his own home with pristine white, gridded tiles with black grouting, eventually demolishing the structure and displaying its rubble in hundreds of identical flowerpots.

The Influence of The Shining

Elizabeth (and later Sue) perform their fitness programme in the gloriously pink glossy Pump It Up TV studio.

One of the film’s most striking locations is the TV studio corridor, which pays homage to one of the most distinctive carpets in film: The Shining’s Hicks Hexagon.

“Coralie had The Shining in mind from the beginning,” says Reydellet. “She didn’t want to copy the carpet exactly but rather reinterpret it. We worked on over 30 variations before settling on the final version”.

If you look closely, you’ll notice the final result is a mix of the hexagonal pattern from The Shining and the geometric motifs from the Gold Room ballroom in the Overlook Hotel.

Unless you’re new here, you’ll know that Film and Furniture sells the officially licensed Hicks Hexagon carpet and rugs for your own home, hotel or office, as well as Gold Room carpet from The Shining’s Art Deco ballroom and the Room 237 carpet too. You can discover the whole The Shining carpet range.

If the TV studio bathroom in The Substance also looked familiar, Reydellet confirmed with us that the space was intentionally inspired by the famous Gold Room’s red bathroom in The Shining—something that director Coralie Fargeat was keen to explore. A place of eerie tension and psychological unease, this set echoes Kubrick’s unsettling use of colour and geometry.

Unlike most of the film’s custom-built sets, this bathroom was an existing location in Paris. With minor modifications, it became an unsettling space in The Substance. The red doors and accents evoke the iconic confrontation scene between Jack Torrance and Delbert Grady. Much like Kubrick’s vision, The Substance uses this bathroom as a psychological battleground, where power and identity blur in unsettling ways.

A film that invites analysis

With its many cinematic references, The Substance is a film that invites analysis. While echoes of The Picture of Dorian Gray, Requiem for a Dream, The Shining and The Fly are omnipresent, the film remains distinctly Coralie Fargeat’s vision. “She doesn’t just reference films—she absorbs them and transforms them,” says Reydellet. “Nothing in The Substance is accidental.”

One detail that caught our attention was the repeated motif of palm trees throughout the film. “I started researching and found that palm trees are an ancient symbol of regeneration and renewal,” Paula Benson pointed out to Reydellet in our interview. “Was that intentional?”

Reydellet laughs. “You may have found a hidden meaning that even Coralie wasn’t aware of! For her, the palm trees were simply a reference to Los Angeles, but I love that interpretation.”

Where The Substance meets design

For those who love film-inspired interiors, many of the furniture and decor from The Substance film sets are available to buy for your own home. From iconic furniture pieces to cinematic carpets and lighting, explore our Film and Furniture marketplace to bring a touch of The Substance into your own space.

We also loved the attention to detail in designing a custom font for the film’s branding and how it extended to The Substance’s product USB key, reinforcing its visual identity. We especially love the packaging itself, which plays a key role in the film’s world-building and storytelling.

By the end of Reydellet and Benson’s upbeat conversation, one thing is clear—The Substance film sets and design details were crafted with an obsessive attention to detail.

“We were completely exhausted by the end,” Reydellet admits, “but it was worth it. This was one of the most creatively challenging projects I’ve ever worked on.”