New Releases

THE BEAST

Directed by Bertrand Bonello

France, 2023, 2h 27min, DCP, In French and English with English subtitles.

New Releases

There are no current or future screenings planned for this film.

“Critic’s Pick! An audacious interdimensional romance, techno-thriller and Los Angeles noir rolled up in one. A shamelessly ambitious epic.”
—The New York Times

“☆☆☆☆☆ A vast unsettling dream of the future and the past. Maybe Bonello’s best film yet.”
—The Guardian

The year is 2044: artificial intelligence controls all facets of a stoic society as humans routinely “erase” their feelings. Hoping to eliminate pain caused by their past-life romances, Gabrielle (Léa Seydoux) continually falls in love with different incarnations of Louis (George MacKay). Set first in Belle Époque-era Paris, Louis is a British man who woos her away from a cold husband, then in early 21st Century Los Angeles, he is a disturbed American bent on delivering violent “retribution.” Will the process allow Gabrielle to fully connect with Louis in the present, or are the two doomed to repeat their previous fates? Visually audacious director Bertrand Bonello (SAINT LAURENT, NOCTURAMA) fashions his most accomplished film to date: a sci-fi epic, inspired by Henry James’ turn- of-the-century novella, The Beast in the Jungle, suffused with mounting dread and a haunting sense of mystery. Punctuated by a career-defining, three-role performance by Seydoux, THE BEAST poignantly conveys humanity’s struggle against dissociative identity and emotionless existence.

X

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS