What does it mean to submerge ourselves in the artifice of not knowing? Of feeling nothing at all? The tactical and crushing emptiness of removing oneself from past trauma is displayed for all to see in Bertrand Bonello’s latest film. It’s an uneven but always thrilling film that is equal parts playful and demented.
The Beast follows Gabrielle (Léa Seydoux), a woman who tries to extract herself from painful emotions in the film’s elaborate yet thankfully never overly explained post-futuristic world. As we experience Gabrielle sifting through different fabrics connecting her life — from a lover doomed to never embrace her affection for Louis (George MacKay) in 1910 to an actress pulled in multiple different directions — a range of time periods all begin to merge into one another.
From the offset, this wild ride of a film seems firmly set on critiquing the relationship between performance and reality. Standing in front of a green screen, Gabrielle is directed on how to act: a scene we return to many times. The lines between what she’s asked to do in the scene and how it ties back to past versions of herself become inescapable — both for Gabrielle and the audience at large.
While this is a compelling (albeit familiar) thread, fortunately, Bonello becomes more interested in exploring the implementation of AI and how our society’s tendency to promote an “objective stance” on all things is sorely unattainable. The question of AI in our modern world clearly brings up a lot of concerns about how it will impact the job market and critical thinking skills. Bonello takes a different approach here, though, examining how memory and love are impacted by this strive for a mechanical way of living. He skillfully plays with the bounds of time within the film’s divided timeline. How can two people ever realize their love for each other in this emotionless world?
The direct parallels between the different periods that Gabrielle has lived through reveal Bonello’s reliance on recurring visual motifs. There’s the bird that suddenly attacks Gabrielle, for example, or the face of the online psychic carrying an uncanny knowledge of her past struggles. The constant use of this imagery can become quite repetitive, though, coming at the expense of exploring the varying fabrics of the lives Gabrielle has led on a deeper, more profound level. The audience sees these images so much as a recollection device that the deep-rooted emotional threads underneath Gabrielle’s fractured visions are never fully realized as intended.
While the themes at the heart of Bonello’s dystopian world carry a lot of thematic relevance, the range of tones that Bonello plays with is where the film has the most fun. Bonello isn’t afraid to dive into unexpectedly funny places while also planting the seeds for an unnerving and mind-bending finale. The film struggles to fully pull off the complex tonal balancing act it’s going for, but the more Bonello leans into surrealism, the more The Beast feels at home.
Seydoux and MacKay both commit to their respective parts — and let’s not shy away from the fact that these are the kinds of bold, difficult-to-pin-down roles that most actors would stay far away from. Both Seydoux and MacKay bring fierceness and a complete lack of fear, especially in the 21st-century segment where MacKay portrays a creepy online vlogger who wants everybody around him to pity his inability to find love. MacKay’s part initially seems like a one-note trope, but as the third act of the film rolls forward, Louis becomes more and more frightening with his character’s one mission in mind.
It can be easy (and simplistic) to compare any piece of media that operates frequently through dreams and surrealism to the work of David Lynch and Twin Peaks, yet The Beast is a film that fully warrants that kind of analogy. With the velvet red curtains draped in the background and Seydoux’s final moments cementing her as a leading star, the Twin Peaks: Fire With Me of it all is on full display. The expectations that this analogy may place on this film are certainly a bit unfair, but these kinds of comparisons shouldn’t keep the film in a singular box.
It’s not difficult to see how Bonello’s script keeps itself from fully allowing the heart of the film to remain properly ambiguous while hitting every tonal beat it’s going for. Despite its hiccups, The Beast remains a worthwhile watch, a fitting introduction for film lovers looking to immerse themselves into Bonello’s vast filmography.
The Beast will debut exclusively in select theaters on April 5, 2024, courtesy of Sideshow and Janus Films.
Despite its hiccups, The Beast remains a worthwhile watch, a fitting introduction for film lovers looking to immerse themselves into Bonello’s vast filmography.
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GVN Rating 7
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Dedicated writer, film critic and journalist with a passion for all things film and television. A current rising senior at Ithaca College pursuing a degree in Writing for Film, Television and Emerging Media with minors in Integrated Marketing Communications and Writing. In addition to recently joining the Geek Vibes Nation team, Matt also currently writes for The Rolling Tape, The Ithacan and Buzzsaw Magazine, with past bylines in Film Updates and Cinema Solace.