May 23, 2024 11:08 am
The Hollywood diva stars with Margaret Qualley in the new feminist horror film by Coralie Fargeat, presented at the Cannes Film Festival
Tgcom24
The protagonist of the story is Elizabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore), a now forgotten Hollywood actress who, after being fired from the aerobics show she hosted after turning 50, turns to the black market for a mysterious experimental rejuvenation serum known as “the Substance”. Once she has inoculated herself with the “Substance”, however, she discovers that it works differently from how she imagined: from her body, in fact, a younger and more beautiful version of herself, called Sue (Margaret Qualley), is born through parthenogenesis. There are rules to follow: the two women will have to alternate every week, one going into hibernation and the other free to travel the world, physically supported by the first.
In exchange, Elizabeth will be able to relive her youth and all its benefits vicariously, perceiving in the state of hibernation everything that Sue will perceive. Things seem to be working at first, but Sue becomes more and more rebellious and she decides to “stay awake” beyond the established limit, starting to drain Elizabeth’s lifeblood.
At Cannes the film received a real ovation, with over ten minutes of applause. As clear as the message is, Demi Moore and the male protagonist, Dennis Quaid (who replaced Ray Liotta, who died two years ago, shortly before filming began), deny it is a film against men. “It’s a film that mocks the male perspective of the ideal woman – Moore said in the conference -. But we’re not against men: we’re against assholes”.
