Cannes 2024 (Competition): The Substance (by Coralie Fargeat) | Review
In The Substance, a serious Palme d’Or contender, Demi Moore’s portrayal of a woman torn between youth and reality under the cruel expectations of a patriarchal society brilliantly transforms body horror into a profound critique of ageism and self-hatred.
I hate myself. I don’t want this decrepit, crumbling, wrinkled, has-been me anymore. Demi Moore is screaming it in our faces. Brainwashed as she is, like all of us, by the devious patriarchy that says that after 50, a woman is disposable, finished, outdated, withered, faded. This patriarchy is more often seen on screen as “divide and conquer” – aka “destroyer of sisterhood” – than as self-hatred. Coralie Fargeat, 48, has the genius to choose the “body horror” genre – very little represented at Cannes – to symbolize it.
This devious patriarchy is what drives the incredible Demi Moore – who plays Elisabeth Sparkle, star presenter of an aerobics show – to want to find her former self, young, loved, desired. She stumbles upon The Substance: an organization that promises to give you back the body you had when you were 20. Except this dream comes with strings attached. Every other week, you’re your younger self; the other half of the time, you’re back in your original body.
It’s enough to quickly make you hate what you really are, caught up in this addiction to youthism. It’s also enough to push the script of this second feature film by the French director into the realms of horror, blood, guts and sordidness. But never in such excess as to make the film vulgar, or trashy for trash’s sake. The Substance is an exceptional film, magnificently acted, a serious contender for the Palme d’Or, on a par with Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Perez. Greta Gerwig, vote for it!
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