Coralie Fargeat’s new body horror film, The Substance, screened at the Cannes Film Festival over the weekend, and the reactions have been (mostly) very positive.
The movie focuses on an acclaimed actress turned celebrity host of a daytime exercise program (Demi Moore) who gets replaced by a younger star (Margaret Qualley), sparking a confrontation between the two women that ultimately turns violent.
The film features extreme violence, but the scene that's sparked the most discussion is a brutal fight between Moore and Qualley's characters - complete with graphic, full-frontal nudity.
“I had someone who was a great partner,” said Moore of her co-star. “We were obviously quite close at some moments… and naked. But there was also a levity [in shooting those scenes].”
Moore also noted that the film “pushed me out of the comfort zone,” but she felt that the nudity “was necessary to tell this story” and that Fargeat approached the scenes “with a lot of sensitivity, establishing a common ground of mutual trust.”
Check out the trailer for The Substance below, along with the reviews and reactions.