The Substance

If there is one film that caused a stir at the last Cannes Film Festival, it is The Substance, the feature debut of French director Coralie Fargeat. In this rock-solid piece of body horror, which recalls the work of David Cronenberg, she takes a stand against the unattainable ideals of beauty forced upon women. She does so with plenty of gore, humour and an excellent cast including Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley.

Elisabeth Sparkle (Moore): once a celebrated film star, she can now only be seen on TV as an instructor in a fitness show. And there, too, she is cast aside because people think she is too old (and ugly). After a car accident, she finds herself on the trail of an illegal substance that divides your cells at the DNA level so that you can have a second, but much younger body. Elisabeth uses it and from her body emerges the pretty and sleek Sue (Qualley). To avoid complications, you have to switch bodies every other week, but Elisabeth does not...