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Mashable

Mashable

'The Substance' is the perfect movie to kick off 2025

Mashable
Summary
Nutrition label

58% Informative

Demi Moore stars as Elisabeth Sparkle , a Hollywood actress who has a star on the Walk of Fame , an Oscar nomination in her filmography.

She's offered "the substance" as a chance to reinvigorate her youth.

The Substance illustrates the dangers of external validation.

Elisabeth has a hole inside her that external validation can no longer fill, nor can her feasts.

Sue has some social life outside her work, as she's shown galavanting with friends and hooking up with various men.

Soon, her need for fame drives her to feed on what life she has left, leaving the older woman a withered crone.

After a prolonged and bloody battle, Sue comes out on top, but they are one.

By embedding us in the cage of self-loathing that Elisabeth built around herself, Fargeat urges us to see the bars we erect around ourselves.

By making Sue — a persona that's pretty, perfect, and adored — a vampire.

The Substance is now streaming on MUBI.