The Beast (2024)

Bertrand Bonello's latest release does indeed, as claimed by many, almost defy classification. Combining Sci-fi dystopian futurism with period drama and romance, The Beast is set across three different eras; a tripartite structure of past, present and future starring Lea Seydoux and George Mackay as three different characters, each with the same name.

In 2044, Seydoux's Gabrielle is attempting to 'purify' her DNA and rid herself of unhappiness; she constantly has an impending sense of doom without knowing why, and she meets MacKay's Louis, who also considering the process but is equally hesitant about going through with it.

In 2014, Gabrielle is an aspiring model who house sits for rich people in LA whilst Louis is an incel, a thirty year old virgin who is angry about the fact, and predictably blames women in general for his predicament.

And in 1910, just before the city's great flood, the pair are living in Paris- Gabrielle as a brilliant pianist who isn't quite convinced by her own marriage and becomes more and more fascinated by the presence of Louis, who she meets at a party. Louis reminds them that they've met before, and Gabrielle spoke to him of 'the beast', a horror that hangs over the entirety of the film's lengthy running time.

During each section there is rather haunting relevance given to various dolls; in 1910 Gabrielle's husband is a manufacturer of dolls, many of which are torched in a disquieting sequence which also happens to be the only section of the film in which Gabrielle is married. Her facial expressions are often lingered upon by Bonello, giving the impression that she too is one of the film's dolls, molded and stuck in a place and time in which she doesn't belong.

The Beast is impossible to sit through without thinking of David Lynch, there's plenty of potential meaning stuffed in here amongst flashes of nonsense, but Seydoux and MacKay are captivating in the central two roles. We know how versatile Seydoux can be, we've seen in many times before, but MacKay deserves huge credit for his virtuosity here; he's exceptional in every period, firmly convincing you of three very different characters with a through line that's impossible not to notice.

There's something that constantly connects the two of them, and they're both trying to decipher what exactly it is; there's very much a knowingness to both of them as they traverse the period they're in whilst also being consistently perturbed by the specter of said beast of the title.

Bonello's film is one to immerse yourself in, and I found its failings more forgivable by the fact that I was so gripped by the whole thing. It requires patience with its pace, but to have rushed things would have been to remove the film's existential dread that seeps through from the first minute and offers the film its own unique atmosphere. 7.8/10