THE SUBSTANCE

Demi Moore stars as fitness guru Elisabeth Sparkle, whose better days are behind her and who the network is looking to respectfully put out to pasture in an effort to bring in a younger, more beautiful talent. Unwilling to be cast aside, Elisabeth turns to the substance, a one-time injection that allows her to rotate on a 7 day cycle between her current self with a younger, more beautiful version the network is seeking (this being the part of Sue played by Margaret Qualley). However, the drug has some side effects and she must quickly decide whether or not it's worth continuing to stay on the program or not. I'll start off by saying I have not been this entertained by a film in a long time! It's an absolute masterpiece, an immediate classic. The film blows the audience away with the social commentary of what women are willing to subject themselves to in order to maintain a certain (usually untenable) imagine. This is Demi Moore's best performance in years and for my money, this is Qualley's coming out party as she's never been better! Desirable, ferocious, determined, and sweet as sugar. This jumped to the top of my list of favorite films of 2024 (leaping over the previous winner LONGLEGS) and with only a few short months left in the year, I'm confident it'll stay there. I cannot wait to see this again to pick up on things I missed during the first go around. Even at 2 hours and 21 minutes, I didn't want the film to end. I wasn't ready to say goodbye to these characters. This is what cinema should be and I applaud writer and director Coralie Fargeat for giving audiences such a powerful story without demonizing patrons either! It's so refreshing to be entertained rather than scolded or preached to at the movies. One final shout out to the over-the-top and eccentrically dressed network President Harvey, played by Dennis Quaid, as he's clearly having fun being so preposterous. Do yourself the favor and GO SEE THIS MOVIE! 9/10