The Beast (Bertrand Bonello, 2024)
The Beast by French filmmaker Bertrand Bonello is a romantic sci-fi drama that spans three lifetimes.
It’s a 145 min. movie to lose yourself in, but along the way you may get lost, so some basic set-up first.
The story takes place in 2044, but goes back to 1910 and 2014. In 2044 the world has been benevolently taken over by AI, which has prevented the outbreak of nuclear war, but which has also reduced the number of jobs considerably.
Gabrielle (Seydoux) wants to work, but to improve her chances, she decides to undergo memory therapy to rid her DNA of the traumas from her past lives - reincarnation is a given here - and become more neutral in her emotions.
It’s not the worst kind of dystopia to live in, but it’s not utopia either.
So Gabrielle goes back to 1910, when she lived in Paris married to a businessman, but also falling in love with dashing gentleman Louis (Georges MacKay).
In the second session she goes back to 2014, when she tried to make it as a French actress living in Los Angeles, also meeting Louis, only this time round he is not a man of the world, but a lonely incel with violent impulses.
And yes, they also meet in 2044, when fun is something associated with the past.
The movie is inspired by the short story The Beast in the Jungle (1903) by Henry James, about a man so afraid of something he can’t see that he starts catastrophizing.
Bonello elaborated on this: we are stuck in a present in which we are constantly reminded of our past traumas while at the same time afraid of a highly uncertain future.
The answer to the problem may be to live in the moment, but because there are so many triggers in our daily lives that’s not as easy as it may seem.
The Beast is a movie with a lot on its mind, both philosophically and spiritually, and it often moves at a slow but deliberate pace.
It’s beautifully shot and cleverly edited, the actors are excellent, and there are elements, like a knife, or characters, like a fortune teller, that appear in different timelines, to connect the different story strands together.
The movie also seems to subscribe to the theory that we are destined to meet the same people that are important to us again and again as our souls travel through the ages. (Whether or not you believe this, it’s an interesting thought.)
The Beast is probably not for everyone. It demands an intellectual investment that’s rare these days, but it pays off in spades.
It starts off as a costume drama, but evolves into something else completely in the second half, when it moves into the realm of weird Hollywoodland movies like Mulholland Drive by David Lynch and The Neon Demon by Nicholas Winding Refn, before delivering a gut punch ending.
If we are not able to feel as much as we once did, will be still be able to love with all our heart?
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The Beast is Bertrand Bonello’s tenth feature. Bonello made his name for himself with movies like Saint Laurent (2014) and Nocturama (2016) and his reputation as one of France’s most interesting filmmakers is growing slowly but surely.
Lea Seydoux is probably best known to international audiences for her roles in the James Bond movies Spectre and No Time To Die. She also starred in controversial Cannes-winner Blue Is The Warmest Colour and worked with Bonello on Saint Laurent.
British actor George MacKay (known for 1917 by Sam Mendes) took over the role of Louis at the last moment, after originally cast Gaspard Ulliel (Saint Laurent) died in a tragic skiing accident.
Because MacKay didn’t speak French, Bonello rewrote some of the movie’s dialogue from French to English. MacKay learned to speak French for the other parts.
The story of Louis the Incel is based on the true story of Eliot Rodger.
The movie premiered at the Venice Film Festival last year, after being rejected by Cannes earlier. It started its theatrical roll out in February of this year in France, followed by other countries like United States, Canada, Argentine and The Netherlands, with more countries (like the UK) to follow.
I give it a 9 out of 10!