La Bete (aka The Beast) (2024)

Set in the year 2044 where AI  reigns and human emotions are a liability. A young woman (Lea Seydoux) is urged to undergo a process to purify her DNA which will purge her emotions and make her a better candidate for employment. The process, however, takes her back to her past lives in 1910 Paris and 2014 Hollywood. Loosely based on the 1903 novella THE BEAST IN THE JUNGLE by Henry James and directed by Bertrand Bonello (THE PORNOGRAPHER). A disturbing but haunting film about a society drifting away from human contact. A life without pain, sadness, anger, fear and cruelty would be so much nicer, of course. But it's unnatural. We're meant to feel these emotions. Bonello's complex narrative dashes through time (and aspect ratios utilizing 1.37, 1.85 and 2.35) which allows Seydoux and George MacKay (channeling Christopher Walken) to play different characters or rather different aspects of their characters. Bonello's ambitious film is often cumbersome and perhaps overlong (it pushes the 2 1/2 mark) but it's a movie that resonates after you've watched it. In order to push his point about dehumanization, there are no end credits for the film, you have to scan a QR  code to get them instead! With Dasha Nekrasova and Elina Lowensohn.