The Substance is a body horror film written and directed by Coralie Fargeat. It follows a fading celebrity, Elisabeth Sparkle Demi Moore who, after being fired by her producer Dennis Quaid due to her age, uses a black market drug that creates a much younger version of herself Margaret Qualley with unexpected side effects.
An international co-production between France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, [ 5 ] the film followed the critical success of Fargeat's first feature film, Revenge. Motivated by societal pressures on women's bodies and aging , she wrote the screenplay in two years with detailed descriptions and minimal dialogue. Filmed in France over days, the film made extensive use of prosthetic makeup designed by Pierre-Olivier Persin, insert shots , a variety of sets , and approximately 21, liters of fake blood.
The film score was written by Raffertie and also features " Pump It Up! The prosthetic design included a series of grotesque and hyperrealistic suits, puppets , and dummies for Elisabeth's drug-induced transformation. It was a critical success and received numerous accolades , including five nominations each at the 97th Academy Awards and the 82nd Golden Globe Awards winning Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy for Moore.
On her fiftieth birthday, Elisabeth Sparkle, a once-celebrated but now-faded Hollywood film star, is abruptly dismissed from her long-running aerobics TV show by the producer, Harvey, due to her age.
A distraught Elisabeth crashes her car while distracted by a billboard of herself being taken down. At the hospital, a young nurse covertly gives her a flash drive advertising "The Substance", a black market serum that promises a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of oneself. Elisabeth, intrigued and desperate, orders The Substance and injects the single-use activator serum. She convulses as her body generates a younger version of herself, who emerges from a slit in her back.
