Coralie Fargeat's outré satire about modern beauty standards is a cautionary tale and 2024's wildest psychodrama, in which Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley slowly transform into a modern Frankensteined wonder. When Elisabeth Sparkle (Moore), a 50-year-old actress turned TV fitness instructor, is fired by a network executive who deems her too old, she makes a Faustian bargain, injecting herself with neon-green plasma that lets her live every other week as a sexy, spotless 20-something named Sue (Qualley). But each time Sue overstays her welcome, parts of Elisabeth's body age at punishing rates. Soon enough, she will become Monstro Elisasue, a distorted ogress who looks like Anjelica Huston in The Witches, if that movie had been 17 times more sinister.
Over two years, Fargeat worked to construct a beastly mash-up befitting the bloodbath of the film's operatic finale. All the things that can be seen as pieces of flesh from the outside gazeour breasts, our ass, our teeth, our smile-were totally deconstructed, pulverized, and put in no order, the French director says. It's the way society has shaped itself by the way men look at women. This is how Elisasue came to life.
1. The Birth
Fargeat always knew her movie would end with a monster- "a Picasso of male expectations," as she calls it. The rejection that motivates Elisabeth to consume the Substance also fosters Sue's addiction to remaining young, which is why Sue defies the mandate to switch bodies with Elisabeth every seven days. Elisasue is the product of minds and bodies stalked by external valuations.
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Early and Often: David Freedlander - Momentum vs. Machine The Trump and Harris campaigns battle it out for every last vote.
WIth two weeks left to go, the contours of the 2024 presidential election are clear: Both campaigns need voters who usually don’t vote, and Kamala Harris needs to bring the Democratic coalition, including its Trump-curious members, back home.While the Republican side plans to spend the remaining days of the contest trying to lure low-propensity voters to the polls, the Harris team will attempt to persuade voters of color to return to its side and will try to increase numbers among white voters in previously red suburbs.
Drowning in Slop - A thriving underground economy is clogging the internet with AI garbage-and it's only going to get worse.
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