On September 19, director Coralie Fargeats celebrated the premiere of her new entertaining and satirical Cannes sensation, “The Substance”.

Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore), a former A-list celebrity, has passed her prime in her acting carrer. As a result, her sleazy TV director Harvey (Dennis Quaid) fires her – from her own fitness show.
However, a mysterious drug offers her an unexpected way out. Just one injection from “The Substance” is enough to transform Elisabeth into a beautiful woman in her mid-twenties named Sue (Margaret Qualley) – but only temporarily.
There is just one rule the two must follow: they have to share their time equally between the two bodies. Exactly one week as Elisabeth and one week as Sue.
What could possibly go wrong?

In “The Substance“, director Coralie Fargeat delves into the toxic cult of beauty, crafting a film about how women’s bodies become victims of this obsession.
Through her lens, she explores the ways in which a woman’s body is perceived in public: simultaneously romanticized and relentlessly scrutinized. No matter how hard women try, no matter how strong they resolve, there seems to be no escape from these societal pressures.

Coralie Fargeat, who has battled her own struggles with body image, was inspired to create this film as a political statement, addressing these issues.
She masterfully combines the dark themes of body image struggles with humor, viewing satire as the most powerful tool to highlight the absurdity of societal expectations. In a way, it seems like a contemporary sequel to her 2014 film “Reality+”, in which she also tries her hand at fictional self-optimisation technology.

“The Substance” is about liberation and empowerment, offering a sharp critique of how women’s bodies are controlled.