Demi Moore Says New Film ‘The Substance’ Explores ‘Chasing Perfection’ in Body Image

Demi Moore is getting candid about body image and the “self-judgment” explored in her new film The Substance.

In a new interview with The Guardian, published on Saturday, Sept. 14, the 61-year-old actress spoke about her latest movie — which premiered on Sept. 5 at the Toronto International Film Festival — as well her relationship with her own body over the years.

Addressing expectations for women’s bodies in the ’90s, Moore said that women were not considered attractive unless they were thin at the time. “What I did to myself,” she told the outlet. “What I made it mean about me. Really looking at that violence, how violent we can be towards ourselves, how just brutal.”

“Self-judgment, chasing perfection, trying to rid ourselves of ‘flaws’, also feeling rejected and despair, none of this is exclusive to women,” Moore continued, before referencing a scene in the film where her character, Elisabeth Sparkle, looks for her flaws in the mirror before a date.

“We’ve all had moments where you go back and you’re trying to fix something, and you’re just making it worse to the point where you’re incapacitated,” the actress explained. “We’re seeing these small things nobody else is looking at, but we’re so hyper-focused on all that we’re not. All of us, if we start to think our value is only with how we look then ultimately we’re going to be crushed.”

Moore then elaborated that “we are living at a time of great judgment,” where “people can anonymously judge one another in cruel ways.”

“I feel [this kind of judgment] is a reflection of someone’s own unhappiness and/or a way to boost their own sense of self,” she told The Guardian. “When those things happen, I have learned to just let it roll. It’s what I make it mean about me. If I give it a lot of weight and value and power, it will have it. If I don’t, it won’t.”

The Substance follows Moore’s character Elisabeth as she tries a black market drug to create a younger version of herself. Directed by Coralie Fargeat, the movie — which also stars Margaret Qualley — explores topics including body image and societal expectations for women and aging. It won the best screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

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While her movie depicts her character trying to create a younger version of herself, Moore — who shares daughters Rumer, 36, Scout, 33, and Tallulah, 30, with ex-husband Bruce Willis — shared on the Today show this past week that she is experiencing “the most exciting time of my life” now at 61.

“We are what the future is for women, and I look at having my daughters and I don’t want [it] to ever be in their minds that there is an end,” Moore said at the time.

“To me, this is the most exciting time of my life. It is — I feel like my children are grown, I have the most independence and autonomy to really redefine where I want to go,” she added. “I don’t know what that looks like or where it is, but I’m just excited to be living in it.”

The Substance arrives in theaters Sept. 20.