HAVE YOU EVER DREAMT OF A BETTER VERSION OF YOURSELF?
When a washed-up Hollywood star (Demi Moore) starts injecting a serum that promises to change her life, a younger version (Margaret Qualley) is generated.
Coralie Fargeat gave Moore’s career a boost in the shape of a body-horror version of ”The Picture of Dorian Gray”, where two different versions of the same person begin to grate on each other. The two leads are excellent and Dennis Quaid doesn’t hold back as a ruthless, misogynistic TV producer; his performance is in line with a movie that turns increasingly extreme. Fans of the genre will enjoy the grotesque masks and effects.
Subtle it ain’t, but arresting, even if the climax goes on too long.
2024-France-U.K.-U.S. 141 min. Color. Widescreen. Written and directed by Coralie Fargeat. Cinematography: Benjamin Kracun. Cast: Demi Moore (Elisabeth Sparkle), Margaret Qualley (Sue), Dennis Quaid (Harvey), Edward Hamilton Clark, Gore Abrams, Oscar Lesage.
Trivia: Ray Liotta was first cast as Harvey, but died during production.
Golden Globe: Best Actress (Moore). BAFTA: Best Makeup and Hair. Cannes: Best Screenplay. European Film Awards: Best Cinematographer, Visual Effects Supervisor.
Last word: “Revenge was my first feminist expression, but I didn’t know it at the time, it was after the movie was made that I discovered that. And for [The Substance], I wanted to do it on purpose, to really address what I was feeling in terms of inequality. There is anger in all of us. The level of violence I need to put on screen expresses the inner violence that all those issues have created inside of me. They are my tool to address it and to say something about it, and make something with it that I hope will hit people’s minds.” (Fargeat, Indiewire)
