Films
The Substance
The Substance
A film by Coralie Fargeat
USA, United Kingdom, France, 2024, 140'
Portuguese Premiere
Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself?
You. Only better in every way.
Seriously.
You've got to try this new product. It's called The Substance. IT CHANGED MY LIFE.
"The Substance" is the second feature film by French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat, for which she won the Best Screenplay award at the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, where the film premiered in the competition for the Palme d'or. A body horror with a clear heritage of great masters such as Stanley Kubrick, Brian de Palma, and John Carpenter, but in which the hyperbolic extravagance of its universe communicates much more than a style – it communicates a vision. In fact, it cries at the top of its lungs a despair that is socially installed in every woman: “what if my body is the direct product of what I’m worth?” 2000 years of male control over the images women receive of "themselves" has fuelled not only an unhealthy obsession with perfection, but also the billion-dollar cosmetics and aesthetic interventions industry. And in this world no one is immune – not even Demi Moore, who plays Elisabeth Sparkle, an aerobics TV presenter who is fired on her 50th birthday. Devastated, Elisabeth returns home to find an unexpected offer. A mysterious laboratory offers her the miraculous "substance": if she injects it, she will become the best version of herself; in return, all she has to do is let this new version come to life while she hibernates, week in, week out. A new reworking of the gothic classic "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" but, as Owen Gleiberman writes in Variety, «with the rare ability to evoke a true monster, not a warped mass of flesh, but a deformation of the spirit».
Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself?
You. Only better in every way.
Seriously.
You've got to try this new product. It's called The Substance. IT CHANGED MY LIFE.
"The Substance" is the second feature film by French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat, for which she won the Best Screenplay award at the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, where the film premiered in the competition for the Palme d'or. A body horror with a clear heritage of great masters such as Stanley Kubrick, Brian de Palma, and John Carpenter, but in which the hyperbolic extravagance of its universe communicates much more than a style – it communicates a vision. In fact, it cries at the top of its lungs a despair that is socially installed in every woman: “what if my body is the direct product of what I’m worth?” 2000 years of male control over the images women receive of "themselves" has fuelled not only an unhealthy obsession with perfection, but also the billion-dollar cosmetics and aesthetic interventions industry. And in this world no one is immune – not even Demi Moore, who plays Elisabeth Sparkle, an aerobics TV presenter who is fired on her 50th birthday. Devastated, Elisabeth returns home to find an unexpected offer. A mysterious laboratory offers her the miraculous "substance": if she injects it, she will become the best version of herself; in return, all she has to do is let this new version come to life while she hibernates, week in, week out. A new reworking of the gothic classic "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" but, as Owen Gleiberman writes in Variety, «with the rare ability to evoke a true monster, not a warped mass of flesh, but a deformation of the spirit».
Credits
Director Coralie Fargeat Script Coralie Fargeat Producer Coralie Fargeat, Eric Fellner, Tim Bevan Cast Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid Language English Subtitles Portuguese Sales Match Factory Distribution Pris
Coralie Fargeat
Director "The Substance"