Film: The Substance (playing on MUBI)
Cast: Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid, Edward Hamilton-Clark, Gore Abrams, Christian Erickson, Robin Greer, Hugo Diego Garcia
Director: Coralie Fargeat
Rating: 3.5
Runtime: 141 min

Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance” is a macabre body horror satire that takes wounding hits at beauty standards governed by ‘viagra’ fortified men. Ironically, this film arrives at a time when the one-shot weight loss solution ‘Ozempic’ is in peak demand, and the storyline could well be an echo of what horrors could be in store for similar solution takers - of course, based on a very fertile imagination.  

The subject matter of the film is a ‘fountain of youth’ solution. Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) once dazzled audiences as an actress and fitness guru, but, like her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, she has seen better days. After losing her job leading a fitness class for a daytime TV show because Harvey (Dennis Quaid) decides she needs to make room for someone younger, she goes down in the dumps.