Substance: Awarded at Cannes, this disturbing pop nugget is loaded with references to genre masterpieces

An intriguing script awarded at the Cannes Film Festival

Have you ever dreamed of a better version of yourself? You should try The Substance. Indeed, this mysterious serum allows you to create another version of yourself, younger, more beautiful, more perfect.

Just follow the instructions: activate only once; You are stable every day; You change every seven days without exception. It’s that simple, what could go wrong?

Seven years after Revenge, his first film, French filmmaker Caroline Fargeat made a triumphant return at the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival last May. The substance presented in competition, his second feature, created an event on the Croisette by winning the prestigious screenplay prize, thus changing the innocence of Hirokazu Kore-eda.

In addition to the quality of his story writing, clear and relentless despite its originality, substance It also seduced the audience of the festival with the ambivalence of its aesthetics: both pop and acid, vintage and modern, the film evokes numerous references to the masterpieces of the genre, giving birth to an unforgettable hybrid.

Polished aesthetic, sometimes pop and modern…

After experiencing the substance, Elizabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) gives birth to Sue (Margaret Cowell), a more than perfect alter ego. In his skin he can experience a new youth, provided he finds his body every other week.

This alternation of bodies and ages inevitably leads to ambivalence in the aesthetics of substance. While Elizabeth represents the waning Golden Age of Hollywood, young Sue is a perfect representation of the modern era and modern feminine standards. An over-represented fantasy whose director, Caroline Farjit, wanted to denounce the oppression of women: “Everything, everywhere around us, in advertising, in movies, in magazines, in store windows, presents us with fantasy versions of ourselves.he explains. always beautiful thin. young people. sexy. Our version of the “ideal woman” should bring us love. good luck happiness”

At times deliberately adopting the slick and colorful plastic of advertising pieces as symbols of the era’s vanity, The Substance then approaches the pop and ultra-modern aesthetics of films such as The Neon Demon, whose plot had already introduced feminine standards and means of reflection. The world of fashion.

Substance seems to embrace the modernity of its time in its costumes as much as in its sets: leather jumpsuits or latex shoes to emphasize young female forms, sanitized environments, an overabundance of images and advertising spots that seem to repeat themselves. Infinity again…

…organic and disgusting at times

However, a colorful and modern varnish that covers substance Things soon begin to crack as Elizabeth challenges the limits imposed by the mysterious serum, revealing the corrupting depths it hides. Exit then polished and colorful advertising aesthetics, since Caroline Farjit allowing an organic impulse to take hold of his feature film as an inevitable return to the horrors of time and age.

“I am sure that this is our castleThe filmmaker continues about female standards. The castle that society has built around us and that has become a great tool for control and domination. A prison where we think we can move freely. The film says it loud and clear: it’s time to break out that jacket. It is about playing with the destruction of women’s bodies in order to free ourselves from the constraints that have imprisoned women for so long.”

The filmmaker goes on to describe women’s standards of beauty, describing them as “A fortress that society has built around us and that has become a powerful tool of control and domination. The castle we think we want for ourselves. And this movie is a great shout: it’s time to blow it all up. Because how can all this nonsense still exist in 2024?!“

Modern plastic then gives way to the flesh revolution, in an increasingly nightmarish crescendo: Elizabeth’s body, once perfect, then evolves to push past its limits. Made almost entirely by practical effects, especially the use of prosthetics, body deformation pushes back the boundaries of horror achieved by filmmakers such as David Lynch (Eraserhead, Elephant Man) or David Cronenberg (The Fly). Unparalleled level of metamorphosis.

Loaded with references to modern psychological thrillers as well as body horror classics, Caroline Farjit’s feature film borrows from all genres to create a hybrid and unique aesthetic that marks the mind as much as the body.

The substance, awarded at the Cannes Film Festival, will be shown in cinemas from November 6.