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The Substance

United States · 2024
2h 20m
Director Coralie Fargeat
Starring Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Ray Liotta, Gore Abrams
Genre Horror

Fading fitness celebrity Elisabeth Sparkle is fired from her aerobics show because of her age. To fight her way back into the industry that has spat her out, she begins taking "the substance," a black-market drug that promises to make her young again. Winner of the award for Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival.

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What are people saying?

Antoine Corbani Profile picture for Antoine Corbani

A difficult film for me to fully appreciate or fully dislike. Its ambition is truly remarkable and must be congratulated. However, I find that it has subconsciously subjected itself to the very stereotypes on beauty standards and the TV industry that it seeks to deconstruct, to the point of making it overly exploitative for the viewer and subsequently rather redundant. I tip my hat off to the two leads, however: Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley give it their all, and Moore’s win at the Golden Globes is, to me, fully justified. There is also something to be said about Dennis Quaid and his portrayal of the vulgar CEO Harvey. While there are considerable problems with the editing, several plot holes, and the overall message of the film, they have been understandably overlooked by audiences and critics due to the sheer scale of Coralie Fargeat’s vision. I am glad that she received the Oscar nomination and I look forward to seeing what comes next from her.

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