The Substance sets new record for Demi Moore
The Substance, the new film starring Margaret Qualley and Demi Moore, has set a record for the latter.
The body-horror film follows a fading celebrity (played by Moore) who begins to use a black-market drug that creates a younger version of herself (Qualley).
Following its premiere at 77th Cannes Film Festival — where it won the Best Screenplay Award — earlier this year, the film has garnered critical acclaim, with Coralie Fargeat's direction being widely praised.
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The acclaim has led to record-breaking success for Moore, with its 88% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes making it the highest-rated theatrically-released film of her career (and tied with TV movie If These Walls Could Talk).
You can read a selection of reviews below:
New York Times
"The Substance, Coralie Fargeat’s mirror-haunted gory fable about fame, self-hatred and the terror that accompanies an identity constructed on the backs of other people’s stares."
"With wit, style and ruthlessness, Fargeat has made a movie that’s an example of the soulless pop-culture object she’s spoofing."
Arizona Republic
"At some point, [Fargeat] shifts the responsibility to the audience watching, craving, demanding the next and best and thinnest and most beautiful, and she makes the audience — in the film and watching the film — pay."
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NPR
"This is a towering showcase for Qualley and especially Moore, who might be channeling the abrasive, ever-spiraling spirit of Faye Dunaway in Mommie Dearest and late-period Bette Davis."
Rolling Stone
"If Moore’s extraordinary, best-of-career performance doesn’t kick off a full Demi-aissance, there is no God — this riff on The Picture of Dorian Gray goes ballistic in the best possible way."
Empire Magazine
"Feminist scholarship this ain’t; think Showgirls if it were directed by David Cronenberg. But give yourself permission to revel in the excess and be rewarded with an uproariously good time."
The Substance is in cinemas now.
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