Jun 8th  
The Beast* (15)    
(The Garden Cinema, Covent Garden)

(Fra/Canada 2023)                            
Les Films du Belier/My New Picture/Sons of Manual/Arte France Cinema/AMI Paris. 146m.

In 2044 Paris a woman tries to reject her human emotions in a society that considers them redundant, but she consistently hankers for the young man who is also undergoing the same process.
Extended semi-futuristic drama, with Henry James's The Beast in the Jungle inserted somewhere into the semi-coherent plot. An agreeable opening flashback to 1910 Paris (with unexpected diversions into English) gives way to a more indulgent latter half set in the not particularly fantastic 2014 Los Angeles, with the director losing the focus of the story.

Written by: Bertrand Bonello, Guillaume Breaud, Benjamin Charbit.
Producers: Justin Taurand, Bertrand Bonello.
Director: Bertrand Bonello.
Starring: Lea Seydoux, George MacKay, Martin Scali, Guslagie Malanda, Elina Lowensohn.
Photography: Josee Deshales.
Music: Bertrand Bonello, Anna Bonello.
Editing: Anita Roth.

+ the closing credits consist of a bar code for audiences to scan with their mobile phones - the director's intention partly to reflect the starkness of future society, but it may well become a trend