The Substance is Demi Moore's return to interesting body horror

In the 90's, Demi Moore she was briefly the highest paid actress in the world, grossing $12 million for Striptease. That was the pinnacle of a career that then slowed down, even though Moore has worked on various projects, including the recent Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, where she took on the role of an angry woman of the world. However it has been a long time since she had a leading role as intriguing as the one in The Substancea sci-fi satire on body horror, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 19.

The film, by the French director Coralie Fargeatbrutally targets a culture that Moore knows all too well: the terrible pressure placed on women to always be young and beautiful, despite reality. In this regard, Moore's casting could not have been more apt: in her forty-year career the actress has been grilled by the media, scrutinized, made the subject of speculation and cast aside. Perhaps to rebel against all this, or at least make a comment, Moore launches into The Substanceengaging with the passion of someone who has something urgent to say.

The actress plays Elisabeth Sparkle, a former movie star turned TV fitness guru (a clear allusion to Jane Fonda) who seems plagued by loneliness when she isn't smiling or lifting her leg high for the cameras. When she discovers that the show's producers want to change her to (already!) a newer model, Elisabeth procures a mysterious elixir that, as she is promised by a disembodied voice in a video, will create a younger version of herself than she.

However it will not rejuvenate her like the serum did Isabella Rossellini for the women of Death makes you beautiful. With a certain taste for the macabre, he will instead create a second body from Elisabeth's DNA. This way she can spend seven days as the younger version of herself, played by Margaret Qualleyreturning to her regular version in the following week, otherwise something bad could happen to her — even if she wasn't told what.

Do you, dear readers, expect Elisabeth to respect this rule? Of course she doesn't. Would you do it instead if you had the chance to inhabit a body that the world deems much more desirable? Elisabeth, who calls herself her in her new body, gets her job back and quickly climbs the ladder of fame, while her old body lies in state on the bathroom floor or in a hidden closet. This total renunciation of self in order to satisfy the demands of society is a sad sight. Elisabeth also asks herself questions, but The Substance it does not thoroughly investigate the complex link between internal and external pressures.

Fargeat sets the film in a hyper-stylized version of our world, which perhaps compromises the relevance of its message. One would like the film to be closer to reality, to thus underline the contrast with the growing surreality of Elisbeth's private life. Without this nuance, Fargeat can only propose general considerations, especially on plastic surgery and other aesthetic procedures.

In this criticism, perhaps excessive blame is placed on the women who undergo these surgeries and, in some cases, they go too far. As funny and witty as it is, The Substance tells a very sad story of a woman who destroys herself in the desperate hope of doing the opposite. Fargeat, however, doesn't care about this aspect and dedicates himself to increasing the crude comedy while the film well exceeds two hours. There are too many endings, as if Fargeat, having several great ideas to close, was unable to make a decision. So they are all thrown in there, one after the other, while the film consumes the good premises without bite.

Moore and Qualley, though, do a great job. Moore is particularly engaging, adept at managing an intense transformation that's probably the most physical acting he's done since GI Jane. It's exciting to see an actress (or an actor) commit so much, show such devotion to the cause of her film. Fargeat's clear determination deserves the same appreciation. The commitment paid off and at the festival The Substance it was a great success with the public.

It is possible to see a certain irony in all this, if you consider the detail ethos about women and beauty that pervades Cannes. We are all here enjoying a travesty of a system in which we are also willing participants. I suppose this is a fitting tragic irony The Substance, a mean, smart movie that could be sharper but instead is effectively blunted. If nothing else, maybe we can feel a little better about ourselves the next time a gorgeous twenty-year-old passes by on the Croisette… But at what cost?