The Substance‘s First Trailer Witnesses a Beautiful, Terrifying Transformation

MUBI has released its archetypal full-length trailer for The Substance, the upcoming sci-fi/body fearfulness movie starring Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid said to person received a nine-to-thirteen infinitesimal lasting ovation astatine this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Take a look:

Directed by Coralie Fargeat, The Substance stars Demi Moore arsenic Elisabeth Sparkle, the erstwhile big of an aerobics amusement fired connected her 50th birthday. However, a mysterious laboratory comes to her assistance with a neon greenish anti-aging serum, offering her the accidental to go a “young, much beautiful, much perfect” mentation of herself.

Now, anyone who’s seen The Wasp Woman, The Leech Woman oregon adjacent Halle Berry’s Catwoman knows there’ll beryllium a mutative drawback of immoderate sort, but what precisely that volition look similar is sold arsenic the film’s cardinal mystery. Moore’s character, naturally, injects herself with the miraculous “substance” of the title, whereupon she transforms into the similar-looking, but youthful, Margaret Qualley. Once she regains hosting duties of her greeting aerobics program, it appears Sparkle-Moore and Sparkle-Qualley person immoderate benignant of trouble balancing their “seven day” bodily clip share. As Moore states successful the trailer, “a flimsy misuse” of the substance seemingly leads to paranoia, nonaccomplishment of impulse control, the enactment of aggregate irises and what looks similar thing that isn’t expected to beryllium determination increasing from her back.

While we don’t cognize if Sparkle becomes a monster conscionable yet, an unseen typical of the “substance” warns her, “the 1 and lone happening not to forget: you are one. You can’t flight from yourself.” So, bash you deliberation she’ll mutate into an uncanny hybrid of Moore attributes and Qualley attributes? Will Qualley erupt from Moore’s body, subcutaneously, similar a werewolf shedding its dermis? The trailer includes shots of a alert floating successful liquid and Dennis Quaid’s huckster quality greedily eating shrimp. Could that mean Sparkle volition spell done assorted instars, similar an arthropod? Is that what she screams astir aft seeing herself successful the mirror, that she’s virtually mislaid her spine?

At its two-hour and twenty-minute runtime, we’ll person plentifulness of clip to digest The Substance erstwhile it reaches theaters nationwide this September 20.

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