Elisabeth Sparkle, star of an aerobics show, is fired on her 50th birthday by her boss because of her age. When she returns home, her morale at its lowest, she receives an unexpected proposal. A mysterious laboratory offers her a miraculous "substance": if she injects it, she will become "the best version" of herself, "younger, more beautiful, more perfect".
Filming was projected to begin in
Paris in May 2022.[7] In August 2022, Deadline Hollywood reported that the film was "currently in production."[8] Later that same month, Qualley confirmed in an interview with W that she was currently doing work on the film.[9] Filming officially wrapped in October 2022.[10]
Release
The Substance was selected to compete for the
Palme d'Or at the
2024 Cannes Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on 19 May 2024.[11][12] The film received a standing ovation with conflicting reports that it lasted either nine minutes,[13] 11 minutes[14] or 13 minutes.[15]
Prior to,
Mubi acquired worldwide rights to the film, planning to distribute it theatrically in North America, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Latin America, Benelux as well as holding rights for Turkey and India, while its subsidiary The Match Factory will handle sales elsewhere.[16]Metropolitan Filmexport acquired French distribution rights from The Match Factory.[17][18] The film was originally set to be distributed by
Universal Pictures.
Reception
Critical response
The Substance received acclaim from critics after it’s Cannes premiere.[19] On the
review aggregator website
Rotten Tomatoes, 93% of 44 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.4/10. The website's consensus reads: "Audaciously gross, wickedly clever, and possibly Demi Moore's finest hour, The Substance is a gasp-inducing feat from writer-director Coralie Fargeat."[20]Metacritic, which uses a
weighted average, assigned the film a score of 84 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[21]
David Ehrlich of
IndieWire graded the film an A, calling it "an epic, audacious body horror masterpiece... an instant classic. The most sickly entertaining theatrical experience of the year".[22]
Nicholas Barber of the
BBC awarded the film four stars out of five, while singling out Moore's performance: "Ripping into her best big-screen role in decades, Demi Moore is fearless in parodying her public image."[23]
Phil de Semlyen's five star review in Time Out says it is "Moore who glues it all together, going full
Isabelle Adjani-in-
Possession in a vanity-free performance full of bruised ego, dawning horror and vulnerability".[24]
Radhika Seth in Vogue called it "audacious piece of filmmaking... the most exciting release to have debuted on the Croisette so far" and that it was her "current pick to win the Palme d'Or".[26]
Damon Wise in Deadline said it is "a riotous, dreamlike horror-thriller that ends in a delirious symphony of blood, guts and otherwise undefinable viscera".[27]
Peter Bradshaw's 4-star review in The Guardian called it "a cheerfully silly and outrageously indulgent piece of gonzo body-horror comedy".[28]