Now that artificial intelligence is a part of our normal everyday lives, how does Hollywood go about portraying this long-held boogeyman? It’s just not enough to simply posit a future where AI unleashes deadly technology on all of humanity. So The Beast offers something a little different, where AI instead tries to wipe out all humanity’s strongest emotions.
Léa Seydoux and George MacKay star in the film written and directed by Bertrand Bonello. It’s set in a near future when AI controls all of humanity, and has decided that human emotion is a threat. Seydoux plays a woman who has decided to purge her strong feelings by going back into the past, only for things to go awry when she encounters the man she has repeatedly fallen in love with through many incarnations.
The film is a loose adaptation of Henry James’ 1903 novella, The Beast in the Jungle. Also in the cast are Guslagie Malanda and Dasha Nekrasova.
Here’s the official synopsis: 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.
The Beast opens on April 5th.