Grotesque and sexy in hilariously outrageous ways, writer/director Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance is a squishy tale of one woman’s war against the ravages of time. Indebted to the work of David Cronenberg, Brian De Palma, and, most self-consciously of all, Stanley Kubrick, this body horror shocker is neither subtle nor concise when it comes to its themes or its phantasmagoric nastiness.

Nonetheless, like a band latching onto a tasty riff and deliriously riding it into the ground, this genre jaw-dropper—premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 5 and in theaters on Sept. 20, following its win for Best Screenplay at May’s Cannes Film Festival—pushes everything past the point of moderation and decency until it becomes a riotous discourse on the personal and cultural forces that drive women to madness in search of physical perfection.

Spearheaded by literally and figuratively revealing performances from a fantastic Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, The Substance is a study of Elisabeth Sparkle (Moore), a TV exercise queen who, after spending her 50th birthday taping her hit program—think old-school Jane Fonda workout vids in which hotties do synchronized routines in spandex—overhears her network boss Harvey (Dennis Quaid) slander her as a haggard “old b---h” and demand that she be replaced.

At a subsequent lunch, Harvey tries to let Elisabeth down by telling her that “renewal—it’s inevitable.” Rebirth is certainly coveted by the fading icon. An amusing opening sequence depicts the decaying lifespan........

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