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The Substance

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A fading celebrity decides to use a black market drug, a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself.

Credits: TheMovieDb.
The Substance
Overview:
A fading celebrity decides to use a black market drug, a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself.
Cast:

  • Elisabeth: Demi Moore
  • Sue: Margaret Qualley
  • Harvey: Dennis Quaid
  • Fred: Edward Hamilton-Clark
  • Oliver: Gore Abrams
  • Troy: Oscar Lesage
  • Man at Diner: Christian Erickson
  • Male Nurse: Robin Greer
  • Doctor: Tom Morton
  • Diego – Boyfriend: Hugo Diego Garcia
  • Casting Director: Daniel Knight
  • Assistant Casting Director: Jonathon Carley
  • Girl Auditioning / New Year’s Eve Show Dancer: Jiselle Henderkott
  • TV Host: Akil Wingate
  • Man in Suit #1 – Harvey’s Office: Vincent Colombe
  • Man in Suit #2: Billy Bentley
  • Man in Suit #3: Lennard Ridsdale
  • Assistant Director – Pump It Up Show: Jordan Ford Silver
  • 2nd Assistant Director – Pump It Up Show: Oscar Salem
  • Sue’s Assistant: Viviane Bossina
  • Floor Runner: Matthew Luret
  • Maria: Jana Bittnerová
  • Alan – 2nd Agent: Olivier Raynal
  • Stylist: Tiffany Hofstetter
  • Guy in the Elevator: Nicolas Royer
  • Assistant Director – New Year’s Eve Show: Nathan Rippy
  • Little Girl – New Year’s Eve Show: Manon Arizmendi
  • Mother – New Year’s Eve Show: Virginie Kotlinski
  • Director of Photography – New Year’s Eve Show: Brett Gillen
  • Screaming Woman: Charlotte Marquardt
  • Screaming Woman: Léa Hengl
  • Screaming Woman: Gaëlle Raymond
  • Screaming Woman: Claire Lemaire
  • Screaming Woman: Lila Boughoufala
  • Screaming Man: Aurélien Lorgnier
  • Screaming Man: Ivan Sellier
  • Screaming Man: Philip Schurer
  • Shareholder: Christian Bourmier
  • Shareholder: Martin Graham
  • Shareholder: Christian Bordeleau
  • Shareholder: Patrick Hamel
  • Shareholder: Didier D’Hondt
  • Shareholder: Jacques-Yves Dorges
  • Shareholder: Jean-Claude Matthey
  • Shareholder: Olivier Jarcin
  • Shareholder: Jean-Luc Magneron
  • Allison – Diner Waitress: Charlotte Murray
  • Greeting Person: Aaron Kahn
  • Greeting Person: Gabriela Arnon
  • Greeting Person: Nancy Josephson Lahoussine
  • Greeting Person: Andrew Eldridge
  • Greeting Person: Denise Powers
  • Greeting Person: Bryan Jones
  • Happy Birthday Person: Adam Carage
  • Happy Birthday Person: Maria McClurg
  • Happy Birthday Person: Andrew Desmond
  • Happy Birthday Person: Rebecca Lafont
  • Isabella: Laura Puech
  • Stagehand: Ryan Chidester
  • Elisabeth (Young) – Walk of Fame: Céline Vogt
  • Clumsy Burger Guy – Walk of Fame: Yannick Guérin
  • Worker Walk of Fame: Jean Miel
  • Worker Walk of Fame: Paul Descoings
  • Worker Walk of Fame: Benoit Lévêque
  • Cocktail Bartender: Arthur Molinet
  • Cocktail Lounge Couple: Manon Sachot
  • Cocktail Lounge Couple: Bastien Jorelle
  • Female Assistant – Towel: Kelly Hoarau
  • George – Harvey’s Friend: Michel Juskiewicz
  • Restaurant Waitress: Louise Greggory
  • Guy Looking at Sue: Christophe Sartirano
  • Guy Looking at Sue: Florent Torres
  • Billboard Technician: Romain Caldeira
  • Billboard Technician: Barthelemy Thomas
  • Photographer: Axel Baille
  • Additional Voices (voice): Ashley Lambert
  • Additional Voices (voice): Ranjani Brow
  • Additional Voices (voice): Chase Fein
  • Additional Voices (voice): Shane Sweet
  • Additional Voices (voice): William Calvert
  • Additional Voices (voice): Michael Corbett
  • Additional Voices (voice): Stephen Apostolina
  • The Substance (voice): Yann Bean
  • Pump It Up Show Dancer: Audrey Alcide
  • Pump It Up Show Dancer: Jonathan Jenvrin
  • Pump It Up Show Dancer: Mimi Maury
  • Pump It Up Show Dancer: Amelye Solange
  • Pump It Up Show Dancer: Kévin Table
  • Sparkle Your Life Show Dancer: Laura Boera
  • Sparkle Your Life Show Dancer: Cissy Duc
  • Sparkle Your Life Show Dancer: Sophie Mercier
  • Sparkle Your Life Show Dancer: Marie Valton
  • New Year’s Eve Show Dancer: Katrina Budzynski
  • New Year’s Eve Show Dancer: Alicia Maury
  • New Year’s Eve Show Dancer: Megane Adamik
  • New Year’s Eve Show Dancer: Annalisa Pagnotta
  • New Year’s Eve Show Dancer: Maelle Dantigny
  • New Year’s Eve Show Dancer: Aleksandra Fontaine Kedzierska
  • New Year’s Eve Show Dancer: Pauline Sagetat
  • New Year’s Eve Show Dancer: Agustina Fitzsimons
  • New Year’s Eve Show Dancer: Elena Shcheglova
  • New Year’s Eve Show Dancer: Eve Marchant
  • New Year’s Eve Show Dancer: Lola Donati
  • New Year’s Eve Show Dancer: Kate Matthews
  • New Year’s Eve Show Dancer: Ophélie Jonard
  • New Year’s Eve Show Dancer: Pauline Richard
  • New Year’s Eve Show Dancer: Laureen Cappelliez
  • New Year’s Eve Show Dancer: Daria Panchenko
  • New Year’s Eve Show Dancer: Delphine Beaulieu
  • New Year’s Eve Show Dancer: Victoria Brun
  • New Year’s Eve Show Dancer: Cara Chapman
  • New Year’s Eve Show Dancer: Katharine Matthews
  • New Year’s Eve Show Dancer: Alexandra Faget
  • New Year’s Eve Show Dancer: Clémence Juville
  • New Year’s Eve Show Dancer: Margot L’Entete
  • New Year’s Eve Show Dancer: Hillary Sukhonos
  • Bob Haswell (uncredited): Matthew Géczy
  • Silhouette (uncredited): Namory Bakayoko
  • Happy Birthday Person (uncredited): Gregory Defleur

Crew:

  • Third Assistant Director: Anne Juin
  • Executive Producer: Erik Baiers
  • First Assistant Director: Matthieu de la Mortière
  • Production Design: Stanislas Reydellet
  • Hair Department Head: Frédérique Arguello
  • Stunt Double: Marie Bouvet
  • Stunt Coordinator: Jérôme Gaspard
  • Prosthetics Sculptor: Richard Martin
  • Set Decoration: Cécilia Blom
  • Prosthetic Makeup Artist: Denise Boccacci
  • Visual Effects Supervisor: Bryan Jones
  • Special Effects Makeup Artist: Frédéric Balmer
  • Prosthetics Sculptor: Andrea Leanza
  • Director of Photography: Benjamin Kračun
  • Editor: Jérôme Eltabet
  • Concept Artist: Sebastian Lochmann
  • Assistant Art Director: Krystell Morantin
  • Stunts: Arthur Delapierre
  • First Assistant Camera: Laure Caniaux
  • Stunt Double: Guillemette Buffet
  • Camera Intern: Vianne Burquier
  • Camera Operator: Steve de Rocco
  • Key Grip: Thomas Gros
  • Grip: William Renaud
  • Location Scout: Nadege Marti
  • Stunts: Stephane Girondeaud
  • Second Assistant Camera: Chloè Acher
  • Stunts: Marie Sergeant
  • Electrician: Olivier Maurin
  • Electrician: Edouard Alvernhe
  • Electrician: Charles Droudun
  • First Assistant Camera: Stella Libert
  • Steadicam Operator: Ludovic Tobaldi
  • Location Manager: Noémie Lance
  • Colorist: Fabien Pascal
  • Camera Operator: Catherine Georges
  • Third Assistant Camera: Jonas Poignant
  • Grip: Eddy Trouillot
  • Costume Supervisor: Camille Damag
  • Stunt Driver: Joffrey Darel
  • Stunts: Lucile Perez
  • First Assistant Camera: Marie-Sophie Daniel
  • Costume Supervisor: Fabienne Menguy
  • Stunts: Ahmed Chouikhi
  • Gaffer: Guillaume Lemerle
  • Electrician: Nahi Margot
  • Location Production Assistant: Katia Sourzac
  • Property Buyer: Benjamin Bouygues-Faugeron
  • Stunts: Jérémie Delaboudinière
  • Additional Grip: Tanguy Goasguen
  • First Assistant Camera: Gustin Guillaume
  • Best Boy Electric: Olivier Sargatal
  • Stunts: Céline Richard
  • Additional First Assistant Camera: Benjamin Colleye
  • Video Assist Operator: Yann Festinger
  • Assistant Editor: Benjamin Durfort
  • Props: Baptiste Bonin
  • Production Accountant: Baptiste Herment
  • Digital Imaging Technician: Baptiste Marnière
  • Still Photographer: Christine Tamalet
  • Writer: Coralie Fargeat
  • Producer: Eric Fellner
  • Producer: Tim Bevan
  • Executive Producer: Alexandra Loewy
  • Executive Producer: Nicolas Royer
  • Original Music Composer: Raffertie
  • Makeup Artist: Oriane Cattiaux
  • Special Effects Makeup Artist: Marison De
  • Special Effects Makeup Artist: Sandrine Denis
  • Key Hair Stylist: Jean-Marc Benois
  • Third Assistant Director: Louis Tellier
  • Assistant Production Manager: Honorine Sutter
  • Special Effects Supervisor: Jean Miel
  • Unit Production Manager: Benjamin Celliez
  • Props: Elise Duvignau
  • Post Production Supervisor: Abraham Goldblat
  • Special Effects Makeup Artist: Brian Kinney
  • Production Accountant: Julia Besnier
  • Third Assistant Director: Clément Audebrand
  • Key Makeup Artist: Stéphanie Guillon
  • Hairstylist: Caroline Vlieghe
  • Production Coordinator: Pierre-Yves Frohard
  • Third Assistant Director: Mateo Cejoco
  • Set Dresser: Barthelemy Thomas
  • Art Direction: Amélie Meseguer
  • Additional Hairstylist: Mélissa Jacob
  • Hair Supervisor: Marilyne Scarselli
  • Digital Compositor: Louis Lion
  • Special Effects Makeup Artist: Olivier Afonso
  • Makeup Artist: Lucky Nguyen
  • Makeup Artist: Cynthia Scigliuto
  • Second Assistant Director: Benoit Seiller
  • Digital Compositor: Téo L’Huillier
  • Prosthetic Supervisor: Dave Elsey
  • Carpenter: Louis Celnik
  • Prosthetic Supervisor: Lou Elsey
  • Special Effects Makeup Artist: Bryony Rumble
  • Post Production Supervisor: Tiva Nagchin
  • Assistant Art Director: Marion Didier
  • Visual Effects Supervisor: Guillaume Le Gouez
  • Additional Second Assistant Camera: Christophe Arnaud
  • Location Assistant: Isalys Gillet
  • Assistant Property Master: Elsa Rolland
  • Set Costumer: Elsa Manunta
  • Script Supervisor: Marianne Huet
  • Special Effects: Olaf Taittinger
  • Digital Compositor: Louis Auger
  • Property Master: Chloé Zobel
  • Digital Compositor: Jacob Rogers
  • Extras Casting: Jacques-Emmanuel Astor
  • First Assistant Editor: Jimmy Zhao
  • Music Supervisor: Guillaume Baurez
  • Graphic Designer: Marjane Texier
  • Steadicam Operator: Thomas Burgess
  • Assistant Location Manager: Christophe Riso
  • Camera Trainee: Guillaume Billy
  • Extras Casting: Raphaëlle Beck
  • Assistant Location Manager: Steve Sebir
  • Casting Assistant: Aurélie Boutet
  • Art Direction: Arnaud Denis
  • Makeup Effects Designer: Pierre Olivier Persin
  • Art Direction: Gladys Garot
  • Art Direction: Nathalie Vaïsse
  • Set Decoration: Marion De Villechabrolle
  • Editor: Valentin Féron
  • Art Direction: Julie Plumelle
  • Art Direction: Stéphane Bécimol
  • Costume Designer: Emmanuelle Youchnovski
  • Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Victor Praud
  • Sound Editor: Valérie Deloof
  • ADR Mixer: Judah Getz
  • ADR Mixer: Patrick Christensen
  • Sound Mixer: Emmanuelle Villard
  • Supervising Dialogue Editor: Olga Pasternak
  • Dialogue Editor: Thomas Pichon
  • Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Stéphane Thiébaut
  • ADR Editor: Anna Devillaire
  • Boom Operator: Margaux Peyre
  • Foley Editor: Antoine Swertvaegher
  • Foley Artist: Grégory Vincent
  • Boom Operator: Claire Bernengo
  • Sound Editor: Victor Fleurant
  • Supervising Dialogue Editor: Lucien Richardson
  • Casting: Laure Cochener

Catogories:
Drama,Horror,Science Fiction
These constituents are glamorous!
image
If you follow the instructions, what could go wrong?
Language:
English
Production:
France,United Kingdom
Company:
Working Title Films,Blacksmith
Popularity:
1962.567
Date:
2024-09-07
Year:
2024

  • Manuel São Bento: The Substance delivers an intense, visually mesmerizing commentary on the entertainment industry’s obsession with youth and outward beauty. Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley offer remarkable, maybe even career-best performances, with Dennis Quaid excelling in his role as well. Coralie Fargeat explores how aging stars, particularly women, are discarded when they no longer meet the industry’s strict beauty standards. Moore’s character, haunted by the memory of her former fame and beauty, goes down a dark path in pursuit of a “better” version of herself. The story is also a sharp critique of power dynamics, with white men controlling who’s in front of the spotlight, while women are pitted against one another for validation.

    The film’s production is equally impressive, especially the makeup and prosthetic work that elevates its body horror elements. While the first half of the movie is more subdued, the gore ramps up significantly as the plot unfolds, culminating in a chaotic “fourth act” that will leave audiences bewildered. The fast-paced editing, paired with an impactful score, heightens the tension and surrealism of the narrative. Though there’s a part of me who prefers a version of the film that ends before the wild final act, the overall experience is an unforgettable, audacious exploration of vanity, control, and desperation in the entertainment world.

    Rating: B+

  • good.film: For a film that’s laser-focused on the human body, it’s gloriously on point that THE SUBSTANCE begins with a freshly cracked, bright yellow egg yolk.

    Eggs are the ‘giver of life’, right? They’re the origin of all of us. Gleaming and plump, the yolk suddenly gets pricked – not by a fork, but a syringe.

    That’s the first juicy visual metaphor of many in this meaningfully bonkers body horror, for which French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat picked up the prestigious Best Screenplay prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

    To call the film ‘bold’ is a weapons-grade understatement. It’s an audacious, jaw-dropping examination of what screens & billboards demand of women (especially as they age), and how laughably impossible it is to meet those demands. Well, if you didn’t laugh, you’d cry. After watching THE SUBSTANCE, you might do both.

    Here’s our deep dive for good.film: https://good.film/guide/holy-sh-t-the-substance-is-a-weapons-grade-takedown-of-the-male-gaze

  • griggs79: Demi Moore’s performance in The Substance is so potent that it’s hard to tell what’s more intoxicating; her inevitable Best Actress win or Coralie Fargeat’s razor-sharp screenplay that’s already got the Oscar in the bag.
  • Brent Marchant: There’s a big difference between being funny and being laughable, yet the latest from writer-director Coralie Fargeat has somehow found a way to be both. After amassing a considerable amount of largely well-earned cinematic goodwill in the film’s opening segments, the picture mercilessly squanders that support in the final act with an overlong, meandering, disgustingly gratuitous and grotesque exhibition of utterly bad taste. This story of an aging actress (Demi Moore) who seeks to revive her career by retrieving some of her lost youth with the aid of an enigmatic injectable follows her grand misadventures when the mysterious substance prompts the emergence of a younger doppelganger (Margaret Qualley), who becomes a Hollywood sex kitten sensation virtually overnight. To make this experimental venture work, however, the two individuals must follow a complex set of rules, dictates that become increasingly difficult to follow as they each vie for their respective shares of attention. And, as this scenario unfolds, tension grows between them, leading to complications and unexpected developments that become progressively harder to manage. But that’s where what works in the film ends. As the story plays out from there, it becomes stupendously absurd, and, even though there are some hearty laughs in this, there are even more ridiculously implausible and unexplained occurrences that try audience members’ patience and tolerance, so much so that I couldn’t wait for this trainwreck to end. In addition to the foregoing shortcomings, the film includes myriad changes in tone, making it difficult to determine whether this is supposed to be a serious thriller or a campy road, very much in the same way as in the incomprehensible French offering “Titane” (2021). It also shamelessly “borrows” elements from other movies in various ways, most notably imagery and narrative references from “The Shining” (1980) and “Young Frankenstein” (1974), costume designs from the “Hunger Games” franchise, and bafflingly inexplicable soundtrack excerpts from films like “Vertigo” (1958). Then there’s the picture’s obvious, heavy-handed message about the perils of misogyny, observations that, as important as they are, could easily stood to have been turned down more than a few notches (yes, we get it already). At the same time, though, there are also some fundamentally innate questions about the narrative that go wholly unanswered, leaving us with numerous head-scratching moments. Sadly, these failings detract significantly from the elements that do work (at least early on in the film), such as the fine performances of Moore and Qualley, the picture’s inventive cinematography, and a central premise that could have made for an engaging story if handled with greater finesse. But these strengths are effectively cancelled by what ultimately results when this release goes off the rails. Indeed, how “The Substance” captured the 2024 Cannes Film Festival award for best screenplay is truly mind boggling. I’m certainly a fan of the weird, wild and wacky, but this release undermines the virtues of those cherished qualities. Regrettably, I was seriously looking forward to seeing this offering, and I was decidedly impressed by what I saw in its opening acts, but that was all wiped out by how this one ultimately played out, a picture that, in the end, ironically relied more on style than “substance.”
  • CinemaSerf: This takes a logical step on from Coralie Fargeat’s earlier “Reality+” (2014) drama, only this time it takes a much more substantial swipe at all things vain. “Elisabeth” (Demi Moore) has been at the top of her fitness game for many a year when her boss “Harvey” (Dennis Quaid) decides that she’s now too old and that a younger model is needed to present those programmes we all saw on the television of gorgeous, fit and healthy, people showing us how to exercise on a mat in from of our televisions each morning. Distracted by her imminent removal, she is involved in a car accident that introduces her to an handsome young nurse (Robin Grear) and then to a curious invitation to test out a mysterious fluid that can essentially give her her cake and eat it. In best “Jekyll and Hyde” tradition, injecting this quite literally creates a split personality. One is her current self, the other a perfect, younger specimen. They work in a rota system each gets a week of consciousness then has to take a week out. Thing is, the more vivacious character “Sue” (Margaret Qualley) is not so religious about sticking to these sharing rules and we quickly discover that what is “borrowed” can never been returned – with increasingly harrowing results. With the gushing “Harvey” determined to capitalise on his new ratings winner, things become decidedly irritating for the now marginalised “Elisabeth” – but shat can she do? There’s no going back…! I think this is Moore at her best. Her palpable sense of evolving fury, exasperation and frustration is expertly captured as is the selfishness of her alter ego by an on form Qualley. Quaid steals his scenes as the truly odious epitome of corporate greed for whom it’s all about the business, the money and never the actual people concerned. The denouement is reminiscent of something concocted by one of the David’s – Lynch or Cronenberg, and allows the throbbing ghastliness of this story of vanity gone mad to demonstrate just how fickle life can be when there’s little actual substance at all to their shallow and vacuous lives. A savage indictment of the short-term and unprincipled “beauty” industry that aims squarely at just about everyone and everything involved, is engagingly toxic and well worth a watch.
  • r96sk: Certainly an experience!

    ‘The Substance’ is a lot. It’s one of those sorta movies that I needed to let settle in my mind before I even started to think about reviewing it. I’m not even sure where to start. It’s insane from pretty much the beginning to the very end of its 140 minute run time, some scenes are particularly rough to watch unfold!

    I think the only body horror flick I’ve seen up until this point is David Cronenberg’s ‘Crimes of the Future’ from 2022, which I found to be solid enough but it came across, at least to me, as a bit too forced for shock value. This 2024 release has plenty of that, if not more, but it somehow feels totally at home with what surrounds it.

    The story itself is fascinating, even taking out all the craziness with the gore et al. So by no means is this a film that is style over substance (sorry). It isn’t anything actually overly original in terms of the base plotline, though the way it is portrayed and brought to life is astounding – every inch is expertly crafted.

    Demi Moore is outstanding in this! I haven’t seen her in much, at least anything released post-2002, but here she is top quality throughout. Margaret Qualley is obviously the opposite in terms of the former, though is just as fantastic in regards to the latter – great performance!

    If you see anyone giving warnings ahead of watching this, they are very much warranted! Even with all the graphic twistedness, which will turn many away, this is an impressively enthralling picture. I may need a lie-down though.

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