A film by Bertrand Bonello. Starts October 10th at the fsk. In English and French with German subtitles.

[Credits] [Tickets & Termine] [Trailer]

The Beast, Bertrand Bonello’s asto­nis­hing sci-fi dra­ma, is a thril­ling jour­ney of the mind staged with visio­na­ry élan. Loosely adap­ting the Henry James novel­la The Beast in the Jungle (1903), Bonello tells the ill-fated sto­ry of Gabrielle (Léa Seydoux) and Louis (George MacKay), which is recon­fi­gu­red over three points in time and space: Paris in 2044, in Los Angeles in 2014 and Paris once again in 1910. A dark cloud looms over the heroine’s trou­bled soul from the out­set. In a near-future world domi­na­ted by AI whe­re pro­duc­ti­vi­ty is ever­y­thing, she is rest­less, emo­tio­nal and thus sub-opti­mal. Cleansing her “DNA” offers an appa­rent solu­ti­on, wher­eby she is trans­por­ted through a time por­tal whe­re she expe­ri­en­ces frag­ments of her past lives, which are dele­ted from her mind in the pro­cess. Gabrielle first meets Louis in 1910, who cap­tures her heart and spi­rit, as a powerful bond is for­ged, full of melan­cho­ly and eter­nal lon­ging. A poignant quest for deeper con­nec­tion, LA BÊTE fol­lows two lovers who will never live out their mutu­al attrac­tion. As we move with them from one epoch to the next, like in a hall of bro­ken mir­rors whe­re memo­ry and fee­lings mer­ge into exci­ting but pain­ful expe­ri­en­ces, we rea­li­ze that ever­y­thing human is doo­med to vanish. (Maria Giovanna Vagenas)

Credits:

FR/CA 2023, 146 Min., engl./frz. OmU
Regie: Bertrand Bonello
Kamera: Josée Deshaies
Schnitt: Anita Roth
mit: Léa Seydoux, George MacKay, Guslagie Malanda, Dasha Nekrasova, Martin Scali, Elina Löwensohn

Trailer:

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