The Substance movie review: Coraline Fargeat's French film The Substance, perhaps the most brutal film of the year- goes to bitter, agonizing extremes. It has a fury and rage that feels utterly distinct in its own genre of body horror. The body here is that of an ageing woman named Elisabeth Sparkle, who is striving hard to reconcile with the fact that she might just be forgotten in the crowd of younger and more attractive women.
As Demi Moore plays her, the body hides an insecurity so deep and relentless that it cuts through the screen. (Also read: Demi Moore filmed 45 ‘very difficult' takes of ‘heart-wrenching’ scene in The Substance: ‘Got to a point where I..
.’ ) The fountain of youth turns red Elisabeth is a former star, who is now happy doing her exercise show, but soon enough, she hears that her chauvinist boss (played by Dennis Quaid) is looking for a younger replacement. She escapes a near-fatal accident and, in the process, chances upon an ad for something called The Substance.
It can create a younger version of herself by injecting the activator. Every seven days, the original must swap roles with the doppelgänger. Is it safe? What are the consequences? Elisabeth does not have much time to mull over these questions.
Desperate, she quietly returns to her huge Los Angeles apartment (excellently designed by Stanislas Reydellet), which boasts huge glass walls that provide a bird' s-eye view of the city. The space distinguishes her loneliness as tragically im.
