Beauty – and monstrosity – are skin deep in ‘The Substance’

Demi Moore plays Elisabeth Sparkle, an A-list actress desperate to reverse the erosions of time, in “The Substance.” Mubi “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity,” says the Good Book, and “The Substance” hastens to add a few more ingredients to the condemned’s last meal: fears of aging, sins of the flesh, daytime exercise shows, the monstrous egotism of Hollywood stars and buckets – no, tsunamis – of blood. And Demi Moore, fearlessly and hilariously biting the hand of the entertainment industry that made her.

‘THE SUBSTANCE’ 3 stars RATED: R. Contains strong bloody violent content, gore, graphic nudity and language. RUNNING TIME: 140 minutes AVAILABLE: In theaters The second feature written and directed by the nervy French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat (“Revenge”) is most definitely not for the faint of heart, but if you like your moral fables served up with a liberating lack of restraint, here’s your movie – a cautionary tale that suggests an EC horror-comic version of a “Twilight Zone” retelling of “Sunset Boulevard.

” “The Substance” starts as a drama, but by the final act, it’s become a gory gonzo comedy – the logical end point of Botox Nation. Moore plays Elisabeth Sparkle, an Oscar-winning, A-list actress whose star on Hollywood Boulevard we see tarnish into time-lapse neglect over the years in the film’s neatly metaphorical opening sequence. By the time “The Substance” properly begins, Elisabeth is hosting a Jane Fonda-style wo.