The Beast

Bertrand Bonello's latest film draws inspiration from Henry James's short story The Beast in the Jungle. James's protagonist is tormented by the dread of an undefinable, inevitable catastrophe that isolates him from others and severs his connection to his own emotions. Set in the post-catastrophe world of 2044, Bonello’s narrative finds humanity under the control of artificial intelligence, with a voice provided by co-producer Xavier Dolan. This AI urges Gabrielle to undergo a procedure that would sever the intense emotional connections tied to her past lives. The film transports us to a 1910 Parisian palace where Gabrielle encounters Louis, a character reminiscent of X from Last Year at Marienbad, who tries to convince her that they have met before. What unfolds is a spectacular hybrid of melodrama, science fiction, thriller, and horror—a tale of perpetual, unfulfilled love and persistent, unquenchable fear. Yet, it is also a meta-cinematic exploration, with a narrative that nods to Resnais's modernist style, navigates through Lynch and Cronenberg’s postmodern landscapes, and engages with Carax’s media deconstructions. The Beast ambitiously vies with films like Holy Motors in its quest to shatter the conventional boundaries of the cinematic screen and the film experience itself.