Everyone has heard of the phenomenon The Substance since the film shocked the Cannes Film Festival last May. Is this new thrill-seeking film that trashy, and above all… why?
Coralie Fargeat left the Croisette with the Screenplay Prize under her arm. From there, speculation ran rampant as The Substance divided the Cannes public, but above all left no one indifferent. Since September 20, the film has also become the biggest success on the Mubi platform in the United States. New Cronenbergian masterpiece or gory and easy fraud? For Ecran Large, the balance clearly leans towards the first option, as the director of Revenge hits hard with this sticky tale which uses body horror brilliantly.
Demi Moore has never been so impressive, and Margaret Qualley has never taken such an important step in her rise. The pressure of an ideal of youth and beauty in women is a subject that horror had already treated with relish (The Neon Demon, Beauty Water, Grandmother…) but never with the violence and the extremism necessary to make us feel all the horror. Judith returns in video to the extreme side of The Substanceits references to Kubrick’s cinema and its breathtaking visual beauty.
