‘The Beast’ Review: Bertrand Bonello’s Trippy Sci-Fi Offers A Lynchian View Of The Past, Present And Future – Venice Film Festival
deadline.comBertrand Bonello is a director, like Bruno Dumont, whose ascent to date has been quite closely associated with the Cannes Film Festival, so it is a surprise to see his latest — a two-hander starring French movie queen Léa Seydoux — make its debut on the Lido.
It is sure to be just as divisive here as it would on home turf, but, for those willing to accept its longueurs and absurdities, The Beast is a provocative piece of sci-fi that follows Twin Peaks: The Return down the rabbit hole of dream logic, spanning three time zones in a surreal but compelling examination of human relationships.
Bonello announces his intent with a strange opening sequence, in which Seydoux, working with just a green-screen background, is directed in a scene that will reappear at the end of the movie.
She’s in a house, alone, and “the beast” of the title is in there with her. Seydoux gives a pretty good account of herself, reacting to an imaginary intruder in a non-existent setting, and while it doesn’t make an obvious amount of sense, it does lay the groundwork for a film that frequently comments on its own artifice.
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