The Substance

It reviews better than it plays — admired more than it is enjoyed.

• “It’s the casting of Moore, though, and her willingness to denude herself at 61 – emotionally, as well as physically – that gives The Substance a startling connection with its themes. Not for 30 years has she owned a film with anything like this certitude. Watching her confront the Demi Moore in the mirror, and do it so mercilessly, is extraordinary.”

  Tim Robey, The Telegraph · 100

• “The tone is incredibly specific – darkly funny, exuberant, sad and enraged – and the small cast nails it.”

  Phil de Semlyen, Time Out · 100

• “Director Coralie Fargeat follows up her gory 2017 rape-reprisal thriller, Revenge, with this outrageous comic body-horror, pitched somewhere between Sunset Boulevard and Brian Yuzna’s cult classic, Society.”

  Tara Brady, The Irish Times · 100

• “While dissecting the world’s ridiculous beauty ideals, Fargeat directs her sensational feat with pungent audacity, fearless humor, and dysmorphic body horror.”

  Patrice Witherspoon, Screen Rant · 100

• “The Substance gets more wonderfully appalling as it goes along, but it’s impressive from its first moments, and it never lets up.”

  Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle · 100