From the outside, pianist Gabrielle's life looks quite successful, because she gained fame early and successfully married the owner of a puppet factory. But lately, she has been plagued by disappointments. A marriage for love did not bring a single girl closer to her wealthy and cold husband, and public attention quickly turned into commonplace.
At a party, every man admires Gabrielle's beauty and abilities, but none of them can dispel her endless boredom. Unlike Louis, who suddenly appears, an inconspicuous boy who ran into the main character many years ago in a completely different life. His intelligence and sensuality once again ignite the girl's thirst for simple communication.
In reality, Gabrielle is tormented not by disappointment and boredom, but by an irrational sense of danger. Like a nightmarish monster is on her heels, preparing to attack one day. Although there is no reason for such fear in a girl's measured life, an exhausting obsession constantly eats at her.
So Gabrielle doesn't let Louis get too close, but he doesn't give him a final say no either. After all, a terrible disaster that nests in her soul can be a devastating scandal with her husband out of jealousy or eternal loneliness. The perfect couple can't even touch each other as if they weren't meant to be together.
The main characters lead a truly different life in crowded and lonely Los Angeles. Gabrielle is a failed actress who takes off meager roles in commercials and looks after someone else's villa. Louis is a guy resentful of women who is unable to compare his insecurity and failures in love affairs.
But even in this universe, Gabrielle has a hunch that has no way out. Once again, an unexpected meeting with Louis, whose gaze beckons, draws the girl into the abyss of love that is not destined to come true. Partly because of her own indecision, and partly because she is afraid of changes that could turn into that very catastrophe.
In fact, Gabrielle and Louis live in the near future, where artificial intelligence has replaced the need for emotions and human labor. The only way to stay useful is to turn to a soulless doll. But to do this, you need to relive memories of past lives, each of which always contains two things: unrealizable love and a premonition of disaster.
“The Beast” Bertrand Bonello is shaky and fickle. As soon as one of the visual or genre forms asserts itself, another takes its place. In different incarnations, the frame size, the color scheme, and the overall mood change. Heroes who do not distinguish present from future and truth from fiction constantly slide into the unconscious, where timelines mix and break the fourth wall.
The feeling that she is defeating the main character only seems shapeless and faceless. Gabrielle lives life after life, but is afraid to look fear in the eye. She is afraid of the closeness of her own emotions, whether it's a burning romance on the side or a craving for a dangerous guy. And as soon as feelings sneak up, there is a fear of losing the shaky regularity of existence. Time after time, this horror takes the form of a real catastrophe.
Anxiety is most pronounced in the “main” storyline, although Bertrand Bonello does not focus and allows everyone to develop at their own pace. Gabrielle from the future decides to put aside the unnecessary emotions that prevent her from entering the orderly ranks of “female dolls”. And unlike her other forms, she has the ability to do it for real.
The main characters of the film “Past Lives” believed that love can break into problems again and again, but, as it is repeated in parallel universes, one day it will bloom. Gabrielle, who is endlessly denying her feelings for Louis, can only wonder if their love is doomed in the present, or whether they deserve some hard-won happiness.
Although Gabrielle's feelings are caused by dreams and a slight fall in love with Louis, she hardly knows, they are dear to her. But society in the not too distant future treats emotions as a shameful manifestation of imperfect humanity and seeks to reject them for the sake of “purity” of thinking. So being yourself when everyone around you is so defective turns out to be a true luxury.
The main characters of “The Beast” live in a shaky world where the laws of physics and cinema do not work, and the plot is woven into a tangle that defies logic. To match Gabrielle's feelings for her fictional lover, the film slips through his fingers without becoming stable in any of the timelines. As a result, premonition embodies the fear of one's own imperfection, which, despite fears, makes each person and every work of art unique.
