You can now mark your calendars for when you’re able to see the finest film of 2024. Bertrand Bonello’s ambitious, time-hopping Lynchian sci-fi epic The Beast has now been set for an April 5, 2024 U.S. release by Sideshow and Janus Films. Along with the announcement, they’ve unveiled a harrowing Léa Seydoux-centered teaser which also unveils the title treatment and release date––and, in perhaps a winking touch, features a line of dialogue that matches the title of the best undistributed film of last year.
Here’s the synopsis: “In the near future where artificial intelligence reigns supreme, human emotions have become a threat. To get rid of them, Gabrielle must purify her DNA by going back into her past lives. There, she reunites with Louis, her great love. But she is overcome by fear, a premonition that catastrophe is on the way.”
David Katz was duly impressed out of Venice, writing, “Where to begin with Bertrand Bonello’s wonderful The Beast? It’s been so gratifying to see the initial reaction to the French filmmaker’s tenth feature, after several decades of increasingly remarkable work––the majority of it dark, beautiful, and sleazy. In fact, for what a discomforting and despairing experience much of The Beast is, when I’ve thought back its moments of real, uncomplicated cinematic pleasure, its verve and sense of joyousness, are what mark my memories. It’s romantic, without a capital-R.”
Watch the teaser below, as well as Seydoux (and George Miller!) in the new trailer for Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding 2: On the Beach:
The Beast opens on April 5.