Coralie Fargeat

The Substance

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Director Coralie Fargeat Composer Raffertie Cast Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid

Midnight Cult

4.41/5

Edition 2024

Gala & Specials

140' - 2024 - Drama, Horror - Dialogue: English

A celebrity written off by her age seeks refuge in a dubious miracle drug. The Substance unravels into a gloriously over-the-top body horror satire on how Hollywood treats women’s bodies. At Cannes, director Coralie Fargeat was awarded for her feminist-inspired script. A vanity-free Demi Moore sinks her teeth into both her role and public image.

Once Hollywood A-lister now host of a daytime aerobics show Elisabeth Sparkle (comeback role of Demi Moore) is offered a secret wonder drug to temporarily create "a better version" of herself, being "younger, prettier, more perfect". What follows is a pumping body horror parable about the limited career time of female beauty in Hollywood. With her blood-soaked feature debut Revenge (2017), director-screenwriter Coralie Fargeat already claimed a place alongside the likes of Julia Ducournau (Grave, Titane) and Rose Glass (Saint Maud, Love Lies Bleeding). It's a new and exciting wave of female filmmakers who are fearlessly injecting the horror genre with fresh blood from a feminist angle, successfully upsetting the world's chicest festivals. In Cannes, The Substance received a ten-minute standing ovation as well as the award for Best Screenplay. Fargeat's sophomore feature solidifies the promise of her debut.