Demi Moore Reflects on 'Substance': 'Never Made Sense Why We Can Celebrate the Body in Art but Fear It in Cinema'

Hollywood star Demi Moore, for whom French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat's The Substance will come as nothing but some of the very best reviews her career has seen, says it never made sense to her why the body is celebrated in art but feared in cinema.

The best-known erotic drama star and romantic actress, known for Indecent Proposal, Disclosure, Striptease, and romance drama Ghost, confesses that there always has been a complicated relation around sexuality and the body in America, and she never could identify with it.

"Sexuality is always taboo. And there's a lot of fear in America around the body. That's something I've never understood or related to," she said at the film's French premiere at the French Cinematheque.

"I've certainly stirred the pot in a few of the films I've chosen, which is partly because-never understood that fear-of the body," she said, according to Variety. "It never made sense why we can celebrate the body in art, but fear it in cinema.".

Moore, who also received a career tribute at the event, said that she found it liberating to star in the body horror drama challenging the perception of how women are portrayed on the screen.

"Being someone of a certain age, there was greater value in showing oneself with complete abandon. Being willing to be seen with flaws, with imperfections, (as someone that is) clearly not 20 or 30 years old, being a little bit more 'loosely wrapped.'"

The movie revolves around a middle-aged fitness instructor on television and an actress who gets fired from her show when she is 50 years old. With her life over, Elizabeth tries out a magic drug that can restore the best version of herself. Things take on a complicated turn as the effect of the Substance comes with a cost.

The movie received an 11-minute-long standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival's premiere. Margaret Qualley portrayed Moore in her younger version, and the film cast Dennis Quaid.