Quick synopsis: In 2044 the rise of AI has led to humans being deemed useless because their emotions compromise their decision-making. Gabrielle undergoes a procedure that will purify her and get rid of her emotions, a procedure which involves delving into their past lives.

Many of the films I review on this site are the ones you find everywhere. The last three films I’ve reviewed have all been expensive franchise pieces. In my defence, the only cinema I have near me is a Cineworld, so it’s not as though I get much access to obscure arthouse films. When I do, it’s normally on a streaming service, 9 times out of 10 it’s Mubi, which if you’re a pretentious film dick, is an essential streaming service to have. It’s on Mubi where you’ll find today’s film. A bizarre mostly French-language piece directed by Bertrand Bonello. I think this is the first foreign-language film I’ve reviewed on this site since Monster back in April (unless you count “shit, utter and complete shit” as a language, in which case, the haunted swimming pool movie Night Swim). It being mostly in French isn’t the thing that’s going to stop this from being a massive hit in English-speaking countries. Nope, what’s stopping that happening is that The Beast is, well it’s really fucking weird. I have a high tendency for weirdness, I’m currently sharing my room with someone who is so weird he decides what films to watch by using a random number generator, yeah it’s me. But there were a few times when even I was sitting here thinking “Wait, what the fuck?”. It’s an incredibly unsettling watch, where some scenes don’t make sense until twenty minutes after they happen. Unless you’re paying a lot of attention, it risks coming off as borderline incomprehensible. I’m not saying “explain everything, “but there are times when it’s overly complicated just for the sake of it.

It’s also oddly fascinating. Few films make you work as hard as this one does to appreciate it, and those that do are often not worth it. The Beast is a difficult watch, but it’s utterly compelling once it does have its hooks in you. Like all good science fiction, it says a lot about where humanity is now, and where it’s heading. The somewhat futuristic nature of the story is even weirder to take in when you realise it’s actually inspired by the 1903 novella The Beast In The Jungle, very loosely. I’m not that familiar with the original work, but I highly doubt that it’s about two people crossing paths over three separate periods whilst they undergo a procedure to rid them of emotion so that they can get a job in an AI-led world. I also highly doubt it would feature a section set in 2014 and be mainly about an incel douchbag.

The incel section is probably the most interesting, and not just because it allows George MacKay to play someone incredibly out of character, and do a phenomenal job of doing so. The version of him in the other two timelines is also interesting, but it’s the 2014 section which is the most fascinating to watch. The version of Lea Seydoux’s character in that timeline is very similar to her other versions. As talented as Seydoux is (probably the most well-known French actress to UK audiences due to her roles in Dune and No Time To Die), she’s not given much to-doux. Her performance is great, but it does feel like she’s playing the same through all three. It makes sense, they are supposed to be the same character just their past lives. Like I said, it’s a strange film. But it’s also beautiful. My brain tells me it was full of more colours than a cocktail-fuelled vomit, but when I actually sit down and think about it, a lot of the colours were quite subdued and real. The editing is a different story, there are some brain-melting scene transitions which are creepy in a way I can’t explain, it’s like the film is collapsing in on itself. It makes sense, most of the film is supposed to be her regressing to her past lives, so it would make sense that her brain would “rebel” against those unnatural intrusions.

In summary; I’m not sure how I felt about this. Which is a weird thing to admit in a review. At times ugly and confusing, at times beautiful and as unsubtle as a flashing neon sign. At times it’s unemotional and cold, but then it breaks you (especially near the end). You may love it, you may hate it. But if you’re a film student or you want to move into film as a career, this is probably an essential watch. Even on the moments when I wasn’t that big a fan of what Bonello was doing, I always respected him for having the creativity to try something new. Even the ending credits are inventive; instead of traditional credits, it just has a QR code, which is great for now. But I fear that in a few years time it will send you direct to either dick pics, guns, or a computer virus; either way, it will be something messy that you don’t want to go off in your face.