12 minutes of standing ovation during Cannes Film Festival premiere, Demi Moore with tears in her eyes saying 'I'm exhausted', and whispers in the festival corridors the day after - 'This might be the Golden Palm'. But is it really?
This film is not scary, that needs to be emphasized at the beginning. It won't make your heart race, you won't break out in a cold sweat, nor will you feel chills down your spine (though you might feel a slight discomfort in that part of your body).
To understand what 'The Substance' is about, you only need to see the first scene, or rather the first shot. It's a significant beginning that sets structure for the following story.
A star is being laid on the Walk of Fame in Los Angeles. Seasons pass, tourists walk by, and over the years, the first cracks appear. So, what will happen to the actual star, when she gets old? When her skin is no longer as tight as before, when the breasts are "not in the right place"? Our protagonist, Elizabeth Sparkle, portrayed by Demi Moore, who is presenting her film at Cannes for the first time, is about to find this out. She just turned 50 and can clearly see the end of her career approaching.
But what if this fate could be changed with a mysterious substance? What if she could just not be old any more? Elizabeth Sparkle doesn't need much convincing. She gets a new drug, tempted by the promise of a new life, takes the shot. And thus, "She" appears, a new, better, younger version.
Watching 'The Substance' is a cross-genre journey. We start assuming that it will be terrifying, because that's what the distributor says, that it's a horror, but with each passing minute, it only gets weirder and weirder.
It's also not entirely science fiction. The creators of the mysterious drug are not the true antagonists, we don't know anything about them and we will not find out anything about them. The focus is always on Her, Elizabeth, her feelings, emotions, and needs, her fighting for herself.
Demi Moore deserves great respect for this role, for incredible distance and awareness. The role, although it didn't require any changes to the body mass, no heavy costumes, or learning a new language, is emotionally demanding, bold, but also reveals a lot about the actress herself (not just literally).
Underneath the simple and colorful set design, among the exaggerated characters, kilograms of glitter, sensual dances, and a certain amount of nudity, we can see that this is a film about youth, beauty, the need to be noticed, but also loneliness and fear. It's a bold piece of work, that certainly won't appeal to everyone, but it will definitely provide everyone with an unforgettable experience.
At the beginning of the film's premiere screening, viewers were looking at each other. Should we laugh? Wouldn't that be rude? Is this how it's supposed to look? Or maybe Coralie Fargeat made a mistake, misjudged the emotional tone of the story? Well, no.
Everything in this film is well thought out. From the first carefully crafted shot, through each sequence of Elizabeth taking the 'Substance', to the grand finale reminiscent of Kubrick's 'The Shining', everything is as it should be. Waves of laughter, applause, and random screams 'What the f is happening?!' are perfectly appropriate.
