The Beast (2024)
Director: Bertrand Bonello Run Time: 146 min. Release Year: 2024
Starring: George MacKay, Guslagie Malanga, Léa Seydoux
Country: France, Canada
Language: English, French with English subtitles
About the film:
World Premiere at the 2023 Venice Film Festival.
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 continually falls in love with different incarnations of Louis. 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?
“A movie with impeccable execution and an abundance of ideas to explore after it’s over.”
—Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert
About the filmmaker:
Bertrand Bonello is a French actor, director, and musician. At the height of his career as a musician, he fronted the underground rock band Coven and worked with major names in the French pop world, including the legendary Françoise Hardy. By the mid-’90s, however, Bonello was ready for a change. He entered the film industry with the short Qui je suis (1996). Soon, he was jumping in completely with the full-length feature Something Organic (1998).
Before long, Bonello’s films were competing in the prestigious lineups of the Cannes Film Festival. His controversial drama The Pornographer (2001) won Cannes’ International Critics Week Prize. Critics have associated Bonello’s jarring filmmaking techniques with the New French Extremity movement, and Bonello has continued to push the boundaries throughout his increasingly high-profile career. In 2014, he gained exposure following his work on a conceptual biopic of French designer Yves Saint Laurent titled “Saint Laurent” (2014).
Bonello appeared in the Palme d’Or winning film Titane (2021) as the central character’s father, and he has appeared as an actor in many of his own films, including his most recent film The Beast (2024).
See our upcoming films