The Beast

The year is 2044. Artificial intelligence dominates everyday life, emotions are considered a nuisance. Virtually all work is done very efficiently by machines, two-thirds of humanity is therefore unemployed. Gabrielle Monnier, she is plagued by inexplicable fears, would like a fulfilling job. And she can, but she must first be purged of her emotions. To do so, she goes through an AI-designed procedure that does just that. That procedure involves reliving two previous lives: one in 1910 as the wife of a French doll manufacturer and one in 2014 as a lonely model in Los Angeles. And each time, she meets Louis Lewanski; but who is he?

Director Betrand Bonello based this surprising and in every way imaginative mix of love story, drama and science fiction loosely on Henry James' 1903 novel The Beast in the Jungle, a story about emotions and primal fear. Léa Seydoux and George McKay play the lead roles.