Bertrand Bonello's ambitious science-fiction drama The Beast draws on Henry James' short story The Beast in the Jungle. It connects three periods to explore love, fear and loss. The changing eras matter less than the emotions that refuse to disappear between them.
In 2044, artificial intelligence encourages people to suppress emotion in pursuit of productivity. Gabrielle, played by Léa Seydoux, undergoes a process of DNA purification that takes her into earlier lives. Whether a pianist in early twentieth-century Paris or a model in 2010s Los Angeles, she encounters Louis, played by George MacKay, and an inexplicable bond persists.
Bonello's direction is aesthetically impressive. Josée Deshaies gives each period a distinct visual quality: Paris in 1910 feels warm and nostalgic, Los Angeles in 2014 cold and alienated, and the future clinical and restrained. Those contrasts reinforce the characters' emotional struggles.
Seydoux is excellent as a woman caught between fear and longing. MacKay's transformations across the periods are equally convincing, alternating vulnerability and distance while remaining driven by fear. Their chemistry provides the emotional intensity that carries the film.
The Beast questions the place of emotion in a world increasingly shaped by artificiality and control. Love, anxiety and isolation cross every period in its story. Bonello has made a slow, demanding film that requires time and patience, but its emotional depth and visual brilliance reward that attention. Viewers willing to engage with its unusual construction will find an impressive experience.