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The body-horror satire that earned Demi Moore the first acting award of her career — yes, career — on Sunday night, is available to stream from home.
“The Substance” is available to stream on Mubi but if you don’t have an account, you can sign up for a 7-day free trial through Prime Video. You can also purchase “The Substance” on Prime Video for $19.99.
Moore and Margaret Qualley learn the price of perfection — and the pressure of the male gaze — in Coralie Fargeat’s body-horror sensation, which premiered at Cannes in May. The film tells the story of a former Hollywood star (Moore) whose career decline lands her in Jane Fonda-style fitness-show territory. Upon being fired, she’s offered a revolutionary medical treatment named The Substance, promising to deliver a younger, enhanced version of herself.
The cast also includes Dennis Quaid, Hugo Diego Garcia, Phillip Schurer and Joseph Balderrama.
Moore took home the Golden Globe for best actress in a motion picture, musical or comedy. “I’m in shock right now. I’ve been doing this a long time — like, over 45 years — and this is the first time I’ve ever won anything as an actor,” Moore, 62, said from the stage at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles on Sunday night. “I’m so humbled and grateful.”
In an interview with Variety, the French director discussed the film’s feminist themes, saying that body horror is “the perfect vehicle to express the violence all these women’s issues are about.”
In his review of the film, Variety film critic Owen Gleiberman writes that Fargeat “works with the flair of a grindhouse Kubrick in a weirdly fun, cathartically grotesque fusion of ‘Dr. Jekyll and ‘Mr. Hyde’ and ‘Showgirls,’” continuing that “the movie, in its visceral way, is deliriously ambitious.”
As for Moore? Her “performance is nothing short of fearless,” he writes, adding that she is, in a way, playing a version of herself — a star that, according to a sexist Hollywood, is past her prime.
Stream “The Substance” below:
