Demi Moore gives a career-best performance as Elisabeth Sparkle, a former A-lister past her prime and suddenly fired from her fitness TV show by repellent studio head Harvey (Dennis Quaid). She is then drawn to the opportunity presented by a mysterious new drug: THE SUBSTANCE. All it takes is one injection and she is reborn – temporarily – as the gorgeous, twentysomething Sue (Margaret Qualley).

The only rule? Time needs to be split: exactly one week in one body, then one week in the other. No exceptions. A perfect balance. What could go wrong? Deliriously entertaining and ruthlessly satirical, Coralie Fargeat’s Cannes sensation turns toxic beauty culture inside out with a be-careful-what-you-wish-for fable for the ages. Explosive, provocative and twisted, THE SUBSTANCE marks the arrival of a thrillingly visionary filmmaker.

What the critics are saying:

“This is a film unlike any other you will see right now. It will not be to everyone’s taste. For this reviewer, who craves originality, it is a winner.”
– Stephen Romei, The Australian

“Fargeat delivers a macabre, funny, tragic, absurd and grotesque Grand Guignol of butts and guts; a bonkers and brutal “beauty horror” that elevates the genre to a hysterically unprecedented heights.”
– Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service

“Wickedly audacious and boldly over-the-top, “The Substance” is a biting, hilarious and stomach-churningly disgusting satire of modern beauty standards and Hollywood’s obsession with youth, staged as a deranged midnight movie freak-out.”
– Adam Graham, Detroit News