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The plot is set partly in a near future in which artificial intelligence is in control of everyone's lives and human emotions are perceived as a threat. (NR, 146 min.)
Original title: La bête
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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, 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. [Sideshow/ Janus Films]
Starring: Léa Seydoux, George MacKay
Director: Bertrand Bonello
Language: English, French w/ English subtitles
Genre(s): Drama, Thriller
"Ambitious and accomplished"
— Jordan Mintzer, Hollywood Reporter
"It’s a big swing for the fences from the singular French filmmaker and one that absolutely pays off."
— Hannah Strong, Little White Lies
"Will hook cerebrally receptive audiences with its daring mix of genre elements and hot-button themes"
— Jonathan Romney, Screen International
"It plays as an intriguing meditation on desire, dreams, and the things that make us who we are—and without which we’re lost."
— Nick Schager, The Daily Beast
"Bonello uses these encounters to pose questions about love, desire, and more terrifying masculine urges, depicting moments of pure tenderness and tense, unsettling threat."
— David Sims, The Atlantic
"The Beast traverses timelines to show us that the fear of love — how the highs that come with it can pervert into the lowest lows — is just as devastating as not loving at all."
— Lex Briscuso, Inverse
