Three eras, 1910, 2014, 2044. But always the same woman, Gabrielle, and the same man, Louis.
Or at least their successive incarnations, shown in Paris, during the great flood of the beginning of the 20th century, in Los Angeles a century later, and finally in a futuristic Paris.
Loosely inspired by Henry James' short story "The Beast in the Jungle", published in 1903, Bertrand Bonello's film, presented at the last Venice Film Festival, develops this idea of a cursed love incapable of coming to fruition, his character feminine fearing here, despite different historical contexts, that succumbing to temptation would lead to catastrophe.
To play the main female role, that of Gabrielle, Bonello, the author of “Saint Laurent” in 2014 and “Zombi Child” in 2019, found the suitable actress: Léa Seydoux, impeccable as well as an upper-middle-class lady French woman from the beginning of the 20th century as a top model running for money in the Los Angeles of a century later, and finally as a neurotic from the near future, the willing victim of a machine intended to take away her emotions.
Too slow, too long
We are a little less convinced by the performance of George MacKay (previously seen in “1917”), it is true not as well served by the scenario, except when he puts himself in the shoes of an “incel” (involuntary celibate) ready to fall into femicide.
No doubt the late Gaspard Ulliel, who was recruited for this character, would have delivered a more convincing version...
But that does not lie in the main problem of the film, which mainly suffers from a blatant lack of rhythm.
Too slow, “The Beast” is also too long.
Even Marvel films, full of action, explosions and flamboyant special effects, sometimes struggle to keep the viewer's attention beyond two hours of screening.
Here, the plot, and its incessant back and forth between the three eras, lasts two interminable hours and 26 minutes.
The worst occurring during an evocation of the Paris of 2044, of which nothing suggests that we are in the future, except that people walk in the streets with masks reminiscent of those of fencers.
Artificial intelligence is supposed to have taken power, without anything finally coming to attest to this, apart from the fact that Gabrielle cannot find work, within a job market according to her that is almost completely monopolized by machines. .
The future already doesn't seem very fun, but here it is downright forbidding...
Editor's note:
2/5
" The beast ",
French drama by Bertrand Bonello, with Léa Seydoux, George MacKay, Guslagie Malanda... 2 h 26.