The Substance

'The Substance' is an epic, audacious, and insanely gross body horror masterpiece—an immensely, unstoppably, ecstatically demented fairy tale about female self-hatred.

This is a cheerfully silly and outrageously indulgent piece of gonzo body-horror comedy, lacking in subtlety, body-positivity or positivity of any sort. It's flawed and overlong but there's a genius bit of casting in Demi Moore who is a very good sport about the whole thing. And as confrontational satire it strikes me as at least as good, or better, than two actual Palme d'Or winners.

A gleefully grotesque satire of success, director Coralie Fargeat's English-language debut, The Substance, lives up to its title. But it has plenty of style to spare as well. It's the kind of film that requires courage from everybody involved, and the final act positively challenges you to keep your lunch in your stomach.

Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley take cosmetic enhancement to extremes in a grippingly grotesque fusion of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and "Showgirls."