« LPeople are always asking for something new. But at 50, that stops. » This scathing remark from a TV channel CEO to the character played by Demi Moore in The Substance hits the nail on the head. In the event film by French director Coralie Fargeat, the 61-year-old actress is Elisabeth, a brutally dismissed fitness show star. His fault? The sports coach had a bad taste of getting old. And in a society obsessed with youth and beauty, this misstep proves unforgivable. The choice of Demi Moore at the top of the poster for such a subject – and the fact that the iconic actress of nineties accepted, thus returning to full light after years of purgatory is not trivial – inoculates the film with a fascinating effect of the abyss.
In the film, Elisabeth will test a mysterious youth serum allowing her to temporarily regain her former youth (her “young” version is played by Margaret Qualley). But the miracle cure brings with it a dangerous counterpart, a devastating trap into which Elisabeth will reluctantly fall. “I had to find an actress who knows what it's like to receive the love of the people who look at you, but who also knows what it's like to lose that look,” explains filmmaker Coralie Fargeat in The Independantabout her feminist horror film, awarded the best screenplay prize at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.
A toxic childhood
By featuring (and distorting) Demi Moore, whose sculpted body and remarkably smooth face have continued to fuel speculation, The Substance bitingly denounces a sexist Hollywood industry, where women over 50 are still too often relegated to the sidelines. This body horror audacious thus offers the former star of the 1990s a golden opportunity to take revenge on an industry which has mistreated her so much. Moore's name is already circulating among potential contenders for an Oscar nomination. Oh irony!
This golden statuette, these sequins, little Demetria Gene Guynes probably dreamed of them, like so many kids whose childhood was anything but tender. Her parents separated before her birth in 1962 and the little girl found herself tossed from one town to another by her mother, Virginia King, and her stepfather, Dan Guynes, a traveling salesman whose name she adopted. . Alcoholism, financial difficulties, frequent arguments… Demetria grows up in a climate of violence and instability and begins to dream of a more beautiful and gentler elsewhere. When her stepfather committed suicide when she was 15, “Demi” made the decision to flee this toxic family environment that was eating away at her.
At just 16 years old, she left high school and headed to Los Angeles. She imagines herself a model, even an actress. After all, why not her? Her neighbor, Nastassja Kinski, managed to break through. It was ultimately a man, Freddy Moore, a musician whom she married at 17 (and whose name she would keep even after their divorce in 1985), who would encourage her in her vocation and connect her to the influential network of the sphere. Hollywood. Demi will first get noticed on the small screen. At 19, she took on the role of investigative journalist Jackie Templeton in the popular soap opera Central Hospital. Although the budding actress only remained in the series for two years, her presence was magnetizing.
After a few secondary roles in the cinema, in 1985 she joined the cast of St. Elmo’s Fireemblematic film of the “Brat Pack” (with Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez and Judd Nelson). But the decisive turning point in her career came in 1990. A potter's wheel, the slow song “Unchained Melody” by the Righteous Brothers, a kiss: Demi Moore acquired the status of global star alongside Patrick Swayze in Ghosta cult melodrama that will break the hearts of millions of spectators. Little Demetria Guynes became Demi Moore, one of the most successful actresses bankables d’Hollywood.
The fall after Striptease
From this pivotal film, the actress is spoiled for choice. And she will not hesitate to cut to the chase, even if it means missing out on future commercial successes that could have strengthened her superstar aura. Thus, Demi Moore would have refused the role of Vivian Ward in Pretty Woman (1990), declined the project Thelma et Louise (1991) and retorted the sulphurous Basic Instinct (1992). Lack of flair, mediocre entourage or a mark of (too) great artistic intransigence? She sorts, selects and demands. We see her as a military lawyer in men of honor alongside Tom Cruise (1992), in the disturbing Indecent proposal (1993) with Robert Redford, or even Harassment opposite Michael Douglas (1994).
But it is above all the controversial nanar Striptease which will mark the spirits and tarnish the reputation of the star who is nevertheless in full rise. Bare scenes, sexist marketing campaign and weak script… This feature film directed by Andrew Bergman ended in both critical and commercial failure. A failure all the more commented on since Demi Moore had negotiated a record fee for an actress at the time ($12.5 million), thus paving the way for better pay equity in Hollywood.
A year after this resounding failure, the actress makes a perilous about-face. We wanted to label her as a woman-object? She reveals her shaved head and bulging muscles in GI Jane by Ridley Scott where she plays a lieutenant engaged in an elite Navy SEALs program. But again, despite Moore's radical performance and her feminist message, the film still struggled at the box office. “On the one hand, it felt like I had betrayed women with Striptease. And as if I had betrayed men with G.I. Jane », the actress will quip to Interview Magazine in 2024 about these two fiascos. “But what's interesting is that when I became the highest-paid actress, something happened: Why was that when they chose to take me down? »
“Lost, empty, desperate and confused”
Was Demi Moore becoming too powerful for the deeply unequal and misogynistic industry? Has she paid for her audacity in daring to ask for a salary equivalent to that of her colleagues? Here she is labeled a “diva”, more attracted by big money than by the quality of the scripts and the depth of the roles. His nickname in the industry: “Gimme Moore” (pun for “gimme more”, or “give me more”). At the same time, the star became the favorite target of celebrity magazines. Her relationship with Bruce Willis, whom she married in 1987 in an express wedding in Las Vegas, attracts the lenses. And his iconic naked and pregnant cover for Vanity Fair in 1991 was the talk of the town. If his private life is scrutinized 24 hours a day, the proposals dry up. It was then that she made the decision in 1998 to move away from the sets to devote herself to the education of her three daughters, Rumer Glenn, Scout LaRue and Tallulah Belle.
A risky choice which will lead to the decline of his career. Because in her absence, a whole new generation of actresses, like Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, Reese Witherspoon and Anne Hathaway, have emerged to carve out a place in the spotlight. Once in the firmament, Demi Moore, 40, suddenly becomes obsolete. While she attempts a timid comeback in the sequel to Charlie’s Angelsin 2003, it was still in the pages of the tabloids that the star, divorced from Bruce Willis, continued to cause a stir: her love at first sight with the actor of the series That’ 70s ShowAshton Kutcher, sixteen years his junior, sends conservative minds spinning.
Demi Moore, labeled a “cougar”, and her young “toyboy” are hounded like freaks by the media. The couple, married in 2005, went through tumultuous times. The actress, who confessed to having had a miscarriage at 42, started drinking, ingesting 12 Vicodin pills a day. As rumors of infidelity grew, the two stars announced their separation in November 2011. Demi Moore herself admitted to having felt “lost, empty, desperate and confused” during this period, sinking little by little.
The charred icon found herself urgently hospitalized for convulsions in January 2012 after smoking “something that looked like incense” (sic) according to the 911 call. “Due to the pressures she is currently under, Demi chose to seek professional help to treat her exhaustion and improve her health,” her agent will modestly explain as the star enters rehab at Sundance.
The Substance or Demi's therapy
How to get back on track after this spectacular crash? Demi Moore will discreetly return to film sets in independent projects or series like Empire or Brave New World. A way to modestly stay in the circuit while protecting yourself from the ferocity of the criticism. In 2019, the publication of his Memoirs, The other side of a life, puts her back at the center of media attention. This rawly honest autobiography reveals a sincere, resilient, intelligent star. She speaks openly about the impact that her damaged childhood and her three marriages had on her mental health, her fight against addictions or her complicated relationship with the passing of time.
To Discover
Kangaroo of the day
Answer
It is undoubtedly this fragile balance between courage and vulnerability that encouraged Demi Moore to accept the role of Elisabeth in The Substance. A daring score which allows her to reconnect with her desire to deconstruct her image, while exploring themes she has experienced such as social pressure and the tyranny of youthism. “I discovered another side of Demi that I didn’t know through her films. I discovered someone who took a lot of risks,” revealed Coralie Fargeat about her first meeting with the actress. “Then I read her autobiography, and I found out she had been through a lot of shit. She navigated a male-dominated industry and fought hard to find her place. She took a lot of risks several times by thinking outside the box and being very innovative at a time when she was something of a trendsetter. »
The experience The Substance ? Demi Moore experienced it as a catharsis, almost a therapy. “I came away with a certain feeling of liberation,” she confesses. “I knew there would be shots that would highlight my flaws, but these allowed me to find acceptance and appreciation within myself. I had to let go of all the parts of me that valued perfection. It’s a work in progress… but I’m getting better. »
