Back home

The Beast

216 votes

Producing House

In the near future where emotions have become a threat, Gabrielle finally decides to purify her DNA in a machine that will immerse her in her past lives and rid her of any strong feelings. She then meets Louis and feels a powerful connection, as if she had known him forever.

movie

Status: Released

Released Date: 2024-02-07

Runtime: 146 mins

Director: Bertrand Bonello

Writer: Bertrand Bonello, Benjamin Charbit, Guillaume Bréaud

Spoken language: English, Français

Genres: Science Fiction, Drama, Romance

Original title: The Beast

Production Companies: Les films du Bélier, My New Picture, Sons of Manual, ARTE France Cinéma, AMI Paris, Jamal Zeinal Zade

Production Countries: France, Canada, Switzerland

Reviews

G

Geronimo1967
Though it's really way too long, I did rather enjoy the developing chemistry here between Léa Seydoux ("Gabrielle") and George MacKay's "Louis". The story isn't really structured, it's all largely dictated from her consciousness lounging in the bath of Guinness no longer needed by "Baron Harkkonen" where she is having her DNA cleansed. This is ostensibly to make her life happier and more fulfilled, to take the rough edges off disappointment and pain - and generally to turn her into a rather soporific drone. The thing is, whilst plugged in and gently soaking we discover that her brain isn't co-operating with the process and that she is having very lifelike fantasies - historical, contemporary and futuristic with the handsome and enigmatic "Louis". The story in itself isn't really up to very much. It's an episodic jaunt through what is/was/might be their lives - together and apart. What does work well is the ambiguity. The sense that artificial intelligence, either working on it's own or at the behest of humanity, can rearrange our thoughts and our memories. It can create as convincingly as it can delete comprehensively - and all because there is a sense that emotions are unpredictable, unreliable and therefore a threat to the stability of a new "natural order". The dialogue can meander into the realms of psycho-babble now and again which does detract from the subtle but clear thrust of the narrative, but it is actually quite a scary prognosis of what might become fact if we are not careful to protect what is real and important.
2024-03-09

Recommendations

A Trip to the Moon
4

A Trip to the Moon

1902-06-15

Professor Barbenfouillis and five of his colleagues from the Academy of Astronomy travel to the Moon

The Rules of the Game
3.8

The Rules of the Game

1939-07-09

A weekend at a marquis’ country château lays bare some ugly truths about a group of haut bourgeois a

Austin Powers in Goldmember
3

Austin Powers in Goldmember

2002-07-26

The world's most shagadelic spy continues his fight against Dr. Evil. This time, the diabolical doct

JFK
3.8

JFK

1991-12-20

Follows the investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy led by New Orleans dis

Moulin Rouge!
3.8

Moulin Rouge!

2001-05-18

A celebration of love and creative inspiration takes place in the infamous, gaudy and glamorous Pari

Playing by Heart
3.3

Playing by Heart

1998-12-30

In a vibrant tapestry of love and longing, nine interconnected souls navigate romance and heartbreak

The Day the Earth Stood Still
3.7

The Day the Earth Stood Still

1951-09-28

An alien and a robot land on Earth after World War II and tell mankind to be peaceful or face destru

Chinatown
4

Chinatown

1974-06-20

Private eye Jake Gittes lives off of the murky moral climate of sunbaked, pre-World War II Southern

Videodrome
3.6

Videodrome

1983-02-04

As the president of a trashy TV channel, Max Renn is desperate for new programming to attract viewer

2046
3.6

2046

2004-10-29

Women enter and exit a science fiction author's life over the course of a few years after the author

Enemy at the Gates
3.7

Enemy at the Gates

2001-02-28

A Russian and a German sniper play a game of cat-and-mouse during the Battle of Stalingrad in WWII.

Dangerous Liaisons
3.6

Dangerous Liaisons

1988-12-21

In 18th century France, Marquise de Merteuil asks her ex-lover Vicomte de Valmont to seduce the futu

WarGames
3.5

WarGames

1983-06-03

High school student David Lightman has a talent for hacking. But while trying to hack into a compute

Sliver
2.8

Sliver

1993-05-21

A woman moves into a Manhattan apartment, where she learns that the previous tenant's life ended und

Shanghai Express
3.5

Shanghai Express

1932-02-12

A beautiful temptress re-kindles an old romance while trying to escape her past during a tension-pac

Willenbrock
3.3

Willenbrock

2005-03-17

Second-hand car sales man Willenbrock has everything that he could ever wish for. He is married, has

Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl
3.4

Broken Blossoms or The Yellow Man and the Girl

1919-05-13

The love story of an abused English girl and a Chinese Buddhist in a time when London was a brutal a

Cool Hand Luke
3.9

Cool Hand Luke

1967-11-01

When petty criminal Luke Jackson is sentenced to two years in a Florida prison farm, he doesn't play

Doctor Zhivago
3.8

Doctor Zhivago

1965-12-22

The life of a Russian physician and poet who, although married to another, falls in love with a poli

The Great Love
3.3

The Great Love

1942-06-12

The attractive Oberleutnant Paul Wendlandt is stationed in North Africa as a fighter pilot. While in