The Substance: Coralie Fargeat's Feminist Body Horror on Vanity and Female Exploitation

Coralie Fargeat's film 'The Substance,' which premiered at Cannes to acclaim, was screened at the Rome Film Festival as part of the Best Of selection. The movie stars Demi Moore as a fading aerobics TV star on Sunset Boulevard, confronting decline and madness. Unlike Billy Wilder's 'Sunset Boulevard,' which critiqued the studio system, Fargeat's film is a grotesque, explicit accusation of the exploitation of the female body, reduced to parts and chassis to please the male gaze. The narrative involves a mysterious kit that allows Moore's character to give birth to a younger version (Margaret Qualley) from her spine, enabling them to alternate lives. This explores the double, mother-daughter antagonism, and the difficulty of accepting aging. The body horror, reminiscent of Cronenberg, shows Moore's body degenerating into a monstrous hybrid with Qualley's, celebrating a Frankenstein that reveals the monstrous face of vanity. The film will be released in Italian theaters on October 30 by I Wonder Pictures.