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The Substance

Gore and then more gore
Madman Entertainment
by
ABR Arts 16 September 2024

The Substance

Gore and then more gore
Madman Entertainment
by
ABR Arts 16 September 2024
Demi Moore as Elisabeth (courtesy of Madman Entertainment)
Demi Moore as Elisabeth (courtesy of Madman Entertainment)

Here is news: the screen industry treats women like garbage. This insight, such as it is, powers writer-director Coralie Fargeat’s second feature film, The Substance, which is set in an unnamed city that is clearly a version of Los Angeles, at an unnamed time that bears resemblance to the 1980s. Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore), whose megastar radiance has worn off with age, is sacked from her television aerobics show the day she turns fifty by an orange-tanned executive named Harvey (Dennis Quaid). Yes, Harvey I-Can’t-Believe-It’s-Not-Mr-Weinstein is in want of a younger, more virginal object for his ravishment (and ratings).

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