Everybody’s forgotten a new work from David Cronenberg is likely just months from debut, and I suspect The Shrouds will only land all the harder for it. Early word’s placed it among the strangest, saddest, toughest films David Cronenberg’s ever made––a reckoning with the passing of his wife dressed in characteristically fantastic sci-fi conceits. To quote star Diane Kruger, it “might be his most personal film, because it talks about him and the passing of his wife. I knew it was so close to him and he was a little bit detached because of it. I could feel him being so vulnerable.” This, needless to say, all portends one of the great films of 2024.
We now have, courtesy Cahiers du cinéma and Twitter user TerenceYiBo, our first look at the film, featuring Vincent Cassel, Kruger, and (seemingly) the protagonist’s “device to connect with the dead inside a burial.” Cassel plays (update your Cronenberg name charts) Karsh, said device’s inventor, while Kruger takes on multiple roles––Karsh’s wife, that wife’s sister, and “an avatar, a sort of personal assistant.”
Here’s a full synopsis of The Shrouds and the Cahiers spread:
“Karsh’s revolutionary business is on the verge of breaking into the international mainstream when several graves within his cemetery are vandalized and nearly destroyed, including that of his wife. While he struggles to uncover a clear motive for the attack, the mystery of who wrought this havoc, and why, will drive Karsh to reevaluate his business, marriage and fidelity to his late wife’s memory, as well as push him to new beginnings.”
