In May 2024, the world seems to be collapsing, and—if the current edition of the Cannes Film Festival is any indication—the film industry has already collapsed and not quite been reborn. The movies in the prestigious competition slot were overall the weakest in a decade. Some were critically divisive (Emilia Perez, Parthenope, and Kinds of Kindness), and the most interesting were films that cannot be judged fully on first view (Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis and David Cronenberg’s The Shrouds). In the year immediately after the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strikes, American movie stars like Demi Moore, Emma Stone, and Sebastian Stan starred in films about America by non-American directors, with various success rates. It was a year for actors rather than directors. Performance highlights include the above as well as Mikey Madison, Margaret Qualley, and Willem Dafoe, whose turn in the latest Yorgos Lanthimos saw him at his most sexy and sinister since David Lynch’s Wild at Heart.
Where director and performer were united in peak form, or even a tad overboard, was in Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance. This Ozempic horror film was a disgusting good time, full of pus, innovative orifices, and more gushing blood than in De Palma’s Carrie. Moore plays Elizabeth Sparkle, a Jane Fonda-esque celebrity approaching 50 and about to lose her television workout show. When offered a chance to inject herself with a substance that will produce “her, only better,” a new, younger version of herself is embodied by Qualley as “Sue.” Sue’s career soars, gaining everything Sparkle lost, and the two battle over their shared identity. The most moving scenes capture the unnecessary anxiety of aging, such as when Elizabeth applies and rubs off blush and lipstick before a date, fearing she looks clownish at each new application until she abandons the project, preferring to ghost an adoring man her age.
What becomes clear is how, once again, Coppola is making a film about family, his family. Most of the major characters are related, with Driver and LeBouf playing cousins and patriarch Jon Voight complaining about his “snotty trust fund grandkids.” Coppola casts his sister (Talia Shire), nephew (Jason Schwartzman), and granddaughter (brand new popstar Romy Mars) in small roles. The moving final dedication is to Coppola’s late wife Eleanor, the film’s muse. Ultimately, this is a personal story about how megalomania almost destroyed his marriage. The Driver character declares that “marriage” is the most important thing in a utopia, and while he evades accusations of poisoning his wife, he admits culpability for his moods and mania.
