For Demi Moore, showing full frontal in a nude scene was quite the experience. Especially when the film aired at the Cannes Film Festival.
Society as a whole is so deeply weird about women, aging, celebrities. That goes triple for aging women who are also celebrities.
Though Demi Moore remains widely desired at 61, showing full frontal nudity in a film was a big deal. For her and for the still-quite-sexist, alarmingly prudish entertainment industry.
How did that feel?
‘The Substance’ stars Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley
Demi Moore stars in The Substance, an indie film that played at the Cannes Film Festival. She opened up about the experience during a press conference on Monday, May 20.
According to Variety, Demi Moore described going nude in a full frontal capacity as a “vulnerable experience” for her.
However, it could have been much more challenging. Her co-star helped with that.
“I had someone who was a great partner who I felt very safe with,” Demi Moore praised during the press conference.
“We obviously were quite close – naked,” she explained.
“And,” the actress added, “we also got a lot of levity in those moments at how absurd those certain situations were.”
Showing full frontal in a nude scene required a lot of ‘mutual trust’
“But ultimately, it’s just about really directing your communication and mutual trust,” Demi Moore affirmed.
“… Going into it, it was really spelled out – the level of vulnerability and rawness that was really required to tell the story,” she emphasized.
Moore continued: “And it was a very vulnerable experience and just required a lot of sensitivity and a lot of conversation about what we were trying to accomplish.”
As for The Substance itself, the film takes its name from a fictional “substance” in the film. Demi Moore portrays an aging celebrity who has lost relevance, so she uses a black market drug to artificially create a younger version of herself. Qualley plays this younger homunculus.
It does not go well, and leads to Moore’s character becoming disfigured. By the end, her form is likened to an “abomination.” Yes, there are prosthetics.
Moore’s full frontal nude scene comes when her character examines her body before making the fateful choice of using the titular “substance.”
So what is ‘The Substance’ really about?
It’s easy to say that the film represents cosmetic surgery — botched cosmetic surgery. And how the beauty industry preys upon women and the fear of aging. But it’s clearly more than that.
As for the full frontal nude scene, that’s important. On the surface, it’s important for the audience to understand that Moore’s character’s “fading actress” status isn’t the result of some actual flaw. It’s a societal issue, and she has internalized it.
Also, it matters in a broader sense. Sex scenes in film are now extremely uncommon (what’s the statistic, 1-in-50 these days?). We are decades past the days of sensational erotic thrillers succeeding at the box office. While we all look forward to the cultural pendulum swinging away from its current Puritanical nightmare, it’s good to see reminders of the human body’s role in storytelling.
