In The Substance, Coralie Fargeat presents a feminist horror film where Demi Moore plays a former TV star facing the pressure to stay young with the help of a substance that creates an idealized version of herself.
Awarded the Best Screenplay at Cannes, The Substance, a feminist horror film by French director Coralie Fargeat, stars Demi Moore as a former fitness star on TV, struggling with the societal demand to "age young." The substance that gives the film its title, hitting theaters on Wednesday, allows those who inject it to create a "better version of themselves: younger, more beautiful, more perfect."
For Elisabeth Sparkle (played by an impressive Demi Moore, who ages artificially), fired from her job at 50, the temptation is strong. Thus, her avatar Sue (played by the American Margaret Qualley, convincingly both angelic and demonic) is "born," following in her footsteps as she faces a coarse producer embodying patriarchy (Dennis Quaid).
The only condition to avoid mutual danger is that they must share their time equally in the outside world. But Sue always wants more…
After a first horror film about rape (Revenge, 2018), Coralie Fargeat this time focuses on the female body, "problematic when it’s not perfect or too large, and then as it ages." "This has a massive impact on women’s lives and dictates so much in society. Our bodies define us, generate inequalities and violence, including from ourselves. We’re almost inevitably led to hate it in one way or another, and we can become our own primary instrument of torture," explained the 48-year-old director, interviewed at Cannes by AFP.
She illustrates her point "in a hyperbolic way," with needles and blood, "symbols of the violence of what we must endure as women."
With a meticulous look, in a fictional Hollywood fully recreated in France, the gore explosions—sometimes sickening, sometimes comical—and the actresses anchor The Substance, which still runs 2 hours and 20 minutes. "They were quite incredible; they took huge risks," says the director. "You can feel that the film is embodied; something happened between them."
As for Demi Moore, "what I find amazing is that she wasn’t afraid to expose herself or to look ridiculous. It was a leap into the unknown, and she went for it, without holding back."
"It was the best kind of challenge. I’m always looking for materials that push me out of my comfort zone," echoed the American actress at a press conference in Cannes. An iconic actress of the 1990s (Ghost, Striptease, G.I. Jane), this was her first time, at age 61, starring in a feature film on the Croisette.
"It’s the beginning of a third act in Demi’s career; it’s inspiring," summed up her co-star Dennis Quaid.
Even though the actress never felt "erased" because of her age, "this raw experience, which required me to be vulnerable and expose myself physically and emotionally, helped me accept myself as I am," she admitted. And she added, amid the #MeToo movement, "we’re not against men, just against jerks."
With AFP
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