'The Beast' explores the heart of loneliness, in Los Angeles and beyond
LOS ANGELES — Combining elements of sci-fi, melodrama, horror and romance, "The Beast" takes place across three separate time periods to explore the intense loneliness and disconnection that has become a fixture of contemporary life.
Starring Léa Seydoux and George MacKay, the film follows two characters, Gabrielle and Louis, as they meet each other in 1910 Paris, 2014 Los Angeles and the AI-controlled future of 2044. Each time, circumstances keep them from connecting as fully as they desire.
French writer-director Bertrand Bonello has woven this loose adaptation of Henry James' 1903 novella "The Beast in the Jungle" into a movie very much concerned with the issues of today. It premiered last fall at the Venice International Film Festival and is in theaters now.
"I was very faithful to the argument of the book," says Bonello, 55, in a recent video interview from Paris. "Then I wanted to be as unfaithful as I was faithful, and to explore these concepts of love and fear. They're even more contemporary now than they used to be when he wrote the book. And so I wanted to mix the genres, to mix the period and to make a cinematic
