Cannes 2024: Coralie Fargé’s bizarre body horror ‘The Substance’
by Alex Billington
May 31, 2024
What would you do to remain beautiful forever? This is the question that haunts many human beings on the planet. What would they do? How far would they go? What would they sacrifice? It is a mix of the concept of the Monkey’s Paw and the obsession with “beauty always and above all else”. The extremely talented French film director Coralie Farge She takes this concept on a totally insane journey in her exciting new body horror film EssenceIt’s a vibrant twist on the metaphor of sacrificing oneself for infinite beauty. Essence The drug in question is a mysterious drug developed by an unnamed company that claims to make anyone beautiful, so long as they follow a few rules. GremlinsBut then someone breaks the rules, and the rest of the movie becomes a “playful investigation” that leads to the most grotesque, horrifying ending anyone could imagine. And the audience goes wild! The audience at the Cannes press screening were cheering, screaming, clapping wildly and nearly going crazy by the end. This is horror movie at its finest.
Written and directed by Coralie Fargé, this is her second feature film following Revenge (2017). Essence Performer Demi Moore She plays a meta character, an aging actress/model named Elizabeth Sparkle, who is getting older and her fame is fading. After receiving some information, she decides to join “The Substance” program, and goes to a strange place in a strange part of Los Angeles to get a kit filled with scary needles and food packs. How it works is that you inject yourself with a neon-colored liquid, and a second version of “you” emerges. A second copy, younger and immaculately beautiful. But your old body just lies there, waiting for you to “switch”. Each body can be used for seven days at a time, until your consciousness is switched (or you quit the program). These are arbitrary rules, but that doesn’t matter. It’s part of the concept that Fargeat came up with, and it works well enough. When she ingests the substance, Margaret Qualley She calls herself “Sue” and quickly becomes popular and adored in Los Angeles. Of course she is gorgeous! Please don’t complain that this is an unfair beauty critique. This movie is Become addicted to Beauty is above all else unhealthy and vulgar, and the film is allowed to make this point even if you don’t like it.
Farge’s Essence is insane body horror at the highest level. It’s amazing. There’s no denying it. It’s not worth overanalyzing. I enjoyed watching this movie, but I think it could have been a bit shorter, since it’s too long (it’s 2 hours and 20 minutes, so it’s a bit long). Eh?There’s too much unnecessary repetition (fat can be removed), too many scenes with needles being inserted (once or twice is enough), and it’s filled with the most unnecessarily sexualized shots of the female body, and the most disturbingly grotesque shots. [redacted] The female body. And it’s hilarious! The “beauty is everything” story is borrowed from the Robert Zemeckis classic and is not exactly original (obsession with beauty always leads to unhappiness). Death Becomes Her Like a modern Korean film Beauty Water (Again, about a substance that looks beautiful when applied, but then turns ugly.) The way this story is told is ingenious. Horror fans will go wild for this movie; it’s beautiful and captivating, but also gross and terrifying. It’s rare to see a Cannes press screening audience go this wild during a movie, which is always the mark of a truly great piece of work. If it’s not perfect, it’s an unforgettably shocking moviegoing experience.
After coming out of the lively screening, the debate began and for the next week in Cannes, I argued both for and against this movie. I wish it had been a bit cleaner and a bit neater overall. There are too many unnecessary shots that are not necessary in the movie (do not help the story progress). I’m surprised no one pointed that out to her during editing. The story is strong enough and with a totally amazing performance from Demi Moore, she has to do so much more than just look nostalgic and beautiful as her younger self in this movie. The finale was also totally crazy and I mean that as a compliment. Halfway through this movie I thought “she has to hit the landing or it’s all for naught”. The ending is wow, totally knockout and you would never expect it (unless you read it beforehand). It’s an iconic finale in the horror genre. carryWhether or not everyone who sees the film will enjoy that ending is another matter, but I believe it sums up Farge’s specific vision as boldly as possible. do You need to get a message across to people and this film does it in such a way that it’s “wow!” and you can’t stop thinking about it.
Alex’s Cannes 2024 rating: 8 out of 10
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