La bête
Director: Bertrand Bonello
Writer: Bertrand Bonello
Based on: Henry James‘ novella The Beast in the Jungle
Cast: Léa Seydoux, George MacKay, Guslagie Malanda, Dasha Nekrasova, Martin Scali, Elina Löwensohn
Seen on: 1./2./3.12.2025

Content Note: femicide, (critical treatment of) misogyny

Plot:
In the not too distant future, Gabrielle (Léa Seydoux) would like to get a job but to get a chance, she needs to do a DNA cleansing that removes her emotions by removing any traces of her past lives. Part of the procedure is that she remembers those past lives and so she learns of a deep connection she has had over several lives with Louis (George MacKay) – who she just happened to meet outside of the DNA cleaning facility.

The Beast is a strange film that looks like a romance at first glance but then turns out to decidedly not be a romance at all. Instead it is about the many ways we, and especially men, can fail at romance somehow.

I haven’t read the novella that this is based on, but judging from the wikipedia summary of it, there is not much of it directly left in the film, though Bonello certainly continues the theme that James also explores. With his SciFi twist, Bonello is actually able to make three (maybe four) different versions of James’ story, and they are all somewhat scary in their own right.

Not knowing the novella and just going by the description, I went into the film expecting a romance. So when everything goes wrong the first time, I thought, well, this is to make the actual happy end that much bigger. Then the second story starts, and I started thinking, “oh, he better not make this into a romance where love saves the day, or I’ll kick his butt” (he does not, his butt is safe). And by the time, the third story comes around, I was braced for the possibility that this story will not have a happy end, but it was still a bit of a heart-breaker.

Instead of romance, we get two characters who are prevented from getting their happy end – due to natural catastrophes as much as misogyny and (patriarchal) capitalism. If you don’t jump at the first chance to be happy, the film seems to say, who knows whether you will get more chances? And even if you do, will you be able to take those chances then? It is a somewhat bleak look at things, but not one without merit – or hope.

Seydoux gives one of the best performances of her career. Her Gabrielle is more herself, it seems, than Mackay’s Louis which allows the latter to give a greater variety of performances. But it is Seydoux who is the center and the soul of the film. A challenging balance to keep in a challenging film that had me much more invested than many other films I recently saw.

Summarizing: excellent.