Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance, starring Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, and Dennis Quaid, opens this weekend. The film first premiered in Cannes back in May, which is when the Oscar buzz for Demi first started. That was early and now that fall festival season has started and other contenders have emerged, she’s not considered one of the frontrunners, but she’s not out of it either.
Wider audience reaction could help when more people have seen it and on that note, it’s worth mentioning that The Substance won the TIFF People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award this past weekend. So it’s definitely resonating with moviegoers…but that requires going to the movies to see it. I’ve seen it, and even though I think the film is at least half an hour too long, I recommend it on the strength of Demi’s performance and also what director Coralie is trying to say with this movie. Yes, in the simplest terms, The Substance is about the pressure of women to stay young, no matter the cost. But in more complicated terms, The Substance is about the pressure we women put on ourselves, and how that pressure becomes violence, self-loathing… in the most extreme, arguably comical ways.
This is body horror and satire, and at my screening, there were some people belly laughing through some parts. Which was not my reaction, and it almost made me angry that they were so amused by what Demi and Margaret were doing to themselves – because it’s certainly not funny, this beauty standard that oppresses women, and yet… I get it, I get that the filmmaker exposing the absurdity of this reality, and it’s not like those of us who’ve been or are trapped in it aren’t actually conscious of it either. That’s what being a woman is: we are fully awake for all the mental cruelty that we are exposed to and inflict upon ourselves.
Demi Moore, of course, would be too familiar with this over the course of her celebrity which is now going on 40 years (!) from her time on soap operas, and then a member of the Brat Pack, through her marriage and divorce from another major movie star, into another marriage to a younger man…
If there’s anyone who could play Elisabeth Sparks, now 50 years old and forced to give up her television show because Hollywood has decided that no one wants to look at her anymore, it’s Demi Moore. There is one scene, at the midpoint of the film, where she so convincingly succumbs to her own self-doubts that I can’t imagine won’t be part of the For Your Consideration package for her campaign. This is when I was like, yep, she should be nominated – she’s as raw as she’s ever been, it’s an unforgettable scene.
I interviewed Demi and Margaret together during TIFF. In person she is softer and sweeter than I expected her to be. When you’re talking to her, she looks you straight in the eyes, nodding encouragingly at times. Her voice is girlish and light, she’s shy when you compliment her, her energy isn’t overpowering – that is, she’s not the kind of celebrity who takes up all the air in the room; that’s not to say she doesn’t have star power, just that she’s not leaning into it constantly to take up space. I found her surprisingly… unintimidated, if that’s the right word.
Given my own experiences in these situations with celebrities at her level, I went in there with an idea of what the interview might be like and what the vibes could be and instead she was disarmingly …gentle, and I don’t know if that’s the right word either. But she seemed really at peace and also peacefully pleased with her work on this film. And in that sense probably we all could relate. When you know you’ve done a good job and nobody has to tell you or remind you, that’s the realest substance we should all be chasing.
Here's Demi at the LA premiere of The Substance last night.
