Certainly the grossest, most way-out-there, and dare-you-to-lose-your-dinner film to debut in the Cannes competition so far, Coralie Fargeat’s “Revenge” follow-up “The Substance” premiered in the Palais Sunday night after a morning press screening that saw plenty of expected walkouts. Surely the same volume of repulsed exiters carried over to the premiere public screening, where Greta Gerwig’s jury got their first glimpse of the otherwise since-secretive film whose synopses and press notes tell you little. Mubi has distribution rights, which the company purchased just before the festival started. IndieWire’s David Ehrlich calls it an “instant classic.”
In this audacious, two-plus-hour feminist body horror, Demi Moore bares all to play a once-decorated actress quote-unquote past her prime named Elisabeth Sparkle, now resigned to Jane Fonda-esque fitness videos. But her time is finally up. She’s fired for being too old, sent packing home back to her sparse LA apartment,...
In this audacious, two-plus-hour feminist body horror, Demi Moore bares all to play a once-decorated actress quote-unquote past her prime named Elisabeth Sparkle, now resigned to Jane Fonda-esque fitness videos. But her time is finally up. She’s fired for being too old, sent packing home back to her sparse LA apartment,...
- 5/19/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Not long into Coralie Fargeat’s campy body horror The Substance, Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) is unceremoniously fired from her gig as the celebrity host of a daytime exercise program. The former actress’ credentials — an Academy Award, a prominent place on the Hollywood Walk of Fame — aren’t enough to save her Zumba-meets-Jillian-Michaels-style show, fittingly called Sparkle Your Life. Her producer, an oily personality conspicuously named Harvey (Dennis Quaid), wants to replace Elisabeth with a younger, more beautiful star. In his words: “This is network TV, not charity.”
The Substance, which premiered at Cannes in competition, is Fargeat’s second feature. It builds on the director’s interest in the disposability of women in a sexist society, a theme she first explored in her hyper-stylized and gory 2017 thriller Revenge. She gave that film a subversive feminist bent by turning the trophy girlfriend — a sunny blonde who is raped and murdered — into a vengeance-seeking hunter.
The Substance, which premiered at Cannes in competition, is Fargeat’s second feature. It builds on the director’s interest in the disposability of women in a sexist society, a theme she first explored in her hyper-stylized and gory 2017 thriller Revenge. She gave that film a subversive feminist bent by turning the trophy girlfriend — a sunny blonde who is raped and murdered — into a vengeance-seeking hunter.
- 5/19/2024
- by Lovia Gyarkye
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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