LIAS Film Series: The Substance

Date: Wednesday, 2 December, 7 p.m.
Place: SCALA Arthouse Cinema | Apothekenstr. 17 | 21335 Lüneburg

Director: Coralie Fargeat • UK, USA, France 2024 • 141 min • Original English version without subtitles

Free Admission
Introduction by LIAS Senior Fellow Gertrud Koch

The Substance explores the idea of becoming a better version of oneself and the price of pursuing eternal youth and physical perfection. In her acclaimed film The Substance (2024), French director Coralie Fargeat combines science fiction, satire and body horror to deliver a radical examination of societal beauty standards, age discrimination and the objectification of women's bodies. At the centre of the story is Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore), a former screen icon who loses her television career on her 50th birthday. When a mysterious substance offers her the opportunity to create a younger, supposedly more perfect version of herself, she embarks on a disturbing journey through questions of identity, embodiment and self-perception. Sue (Margaret Qualley), Elisabeth's younger alter ego, initially opens up new possibilities – but the strict rules governing the procedure are increasingly thrown into disarray.

Through drastic imagery, grotesque bodily transformations and dark humour, Fargeat examines how media representations and economic forces discipline women's bodies and make social recognition conditional on youth, attractiveness and perpetual self-optimisation. The film focuses not only on external pressures but also on how they become internalised: Elisabeth's relationship with Sue becomes the site of a destructive conflict with herself. The Substance is far more than a horror film. As a feminist social satire, it exposes the mechanisms of a beauty cult that creates its own ideals while simultaneously destroying those expected to embody them. A provocative and visually overwhelming cinematic experience exploring body politics, self-alienation and the price of social visibility.