Writer-director Coralie Fargeat’s second feature, The Substance, centers on an ageing beauty who makes a Faustian bargain to be young again.

However, this body horror is executed with skill and compassion, bringing fresh insights, assisted by graphic gore.

The Substance draws excellent performances from Demi Moore, as a has-been Hollywood star, and Margaret Qualley, as the younger, prettier version she creates by injecting herself with the titular serum.

Fargeat deals with a timely issue that’s been in the news over the ast decade: how American culture in general, and the entertainment industry in particular, penalizes women by forcing (and thus traumatizing) into doing terrible things to themselves in order to remain employable.

With The Substance, Fargeat confirms her status as a bold feminist filmmaker using extreme genres to explore and criticize systemic misogyny.

Her 2017 debut, the revenge thriller Revenge, played at Toronto, and her sophomore film debuts in a Cannes Competition slot.

The two leads, alongside a loathsome Dennis Quaid, will help hook viewers — MUBI is handling theatrical for the UK and US — but The Substance also should be attractive to midnight movie crowds, due to its body horror elements.

Moore plays Elisabeth Sparkle, acclaimed actress who, as she pushes  50, is hosting a B-level workout show. But even that job gets taken away when her slimy producer Harvey (Quaid) , whofires her for being too old.

Despondent about her career, Elisabeth learns of a mysterious program known as The Substance, which promises to offer a better, younger version of herself. Desperate, she signs up, following the specific instructions about how to take the formula and the rules for this regimen.

After injecting herself, Elisabeth collapses, with a blob ripping itself out of her back. That blob becomes a gorgeous young woman (Qualley) who inhabits the same consciousness of the now deactivated Elisabeth.

Elisabeth can be herself for a week, but then the younger version, Sue, must be awake for a week. Excited at second chance, Sue prepares to get back her old fitness-guru job.

The Substance is a condemnation of Hollywood’s obsession with youth and beauty, and Fargeat is doing this by crafting a rich central character with relatable dilemma.

It is impossible not to think of Moore’s own career–Moore has been a star since the 1980s, although she has not enjoyed good roles in the last two decades.

Moore brings both poignancy and humor to her portrayal, satirizing Hollywood’s shallowness while stressing the psychological damages of sexist attitudes about ’older’ femmes

Qualley is equally impressive as a satirical version of callous youth. The actress’ mother is veteran star Andie MacDowell, which adds another shade to the film’s observations about ageing.

Fargeat’s thoughtful investigation of this horror-film conceit, sharply comments on both the envy and despise of our younger selves.

In addition, mother-daughter relationships, beauty’s fleeting currency, and men’s nasty sexism are all examined.

But Elisabeth is never judged for her decision to create this second persona: The Substance illustrates how powerful misogynists like Harvey–the name is an obvious reference to Harve Weinstein–drive women to such extremis.

Special makeup effects designer Pierre-Olivier Persin makes invaluable contributions, especially in its later sequences.