The Substance
The Substance
The Substance

The Substance

Unclassified 18+
Program Strand/s: Headliners

Demi Moore satirises Hollywood ageism in this audacious and gory feminist body horror that was the talk of this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Elisabeth Sparkle is a faded fiftysomething star who’s just been fired from her TV workout show by a sleazy executive. Then she learns about ‘The Substance’: a mysterious injection that “unlocks your DNA”, birthing a young, gorgeous version of yourself from your own spine. Of course, there’s a catch: every seven days, one body heads out into the world while the other enters recuperative stasis. So when Elisabeth’s ambitious younger self refuses to surrender her newfound fame, the elder begins paying the price … with a gruesome physical disintegration.

In a daringly deranged lead performance, Moore leans in to Elisabeth’s professional self-loathing with zeal. And as her rebellious clone, Margaret Qualley (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, MIFF 2019) matches the mayhem at every turn, while the cast that includes Dennis Quaid revels in going ham with the film’s outrageous premise. French director Coralie Fargeat (Revenge) ruthlessly marshals Cronenbergian tropes, from 1980s-inspired production design to some truly superlative prosthetics, provocatively depicting the turmoil of ageing as a woman in a patriarchal world: the horror that part of oneself may be gone forever.

“The ultimate takedown of impossible beauty standards … While dissecting the world’s ridiculous beauty ideals, Coralie Fargeat directs her sensational feat with pungent audacity and fearless humor.” – Screen Rant


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Tickets

14 Aug 9:00pm The Astor Theatre
Access: Wheelchair Accessible
Past Session
The Substance (141 m)
Past Session
17 Aug 7:00pm Hoyts Melbourne Central 10 / 11
Access: Assistive listening Wheelchair Accessible
Past Session
The Substance (141 m)
Past Session
23 Aug 9:15pm Hoyts Melbourne Central Cinema 10
Access: Assistive listening Wheelchair Accessible
Past Session
The Substance (141 m)
Past Session

For information about the accessible services being offered at MIFF, please visit miff.com.au/access. If you require any access service, such as wheelchair/step-free access, for any MIFF session, please call 03 8660 4888 or email boxoffice@miff.com.au to book your ticket.

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