The Beast

A great disappointment.

Tragic how both characters came close and never connected. Wonderful story and worth exploring.

The most excited I've been thinking about a movie since Mulholland Drive

The movie centers around two characters that could be lovers, though life gets in the way, bouncing between 1910 Paris before and during the Great Flood, 2010s Los Angeles, 2400 Paris where Artificial Intelligence more or less rules people's lives and can erase genetic memories of past lives disturbing the present. In the AI years people try to escape life in dance clubs with themes of late 20th Century. Lea Sedoix character has an ever present sense of a beast out to destroy her in all interations of life, though in the end, the disasters it may represent may be better embraced than removed. This is more a character study than a linear story.

Actual rating is 0 stars. It was about 2 hours 28 minutes too long.

A millennial Mulholland drive

A near miss - interesting ideas, but ultimately incoherent.

This was very well acted and shot well, but the story was just meh. There was entirely too much dialogue. The end was somewhat abrupt too.

Four stars for ambition and density, a watch only for those who like challenge in their viewing. Gabrielle alone seems to understand what is going on, and it's not clear she does entirely. Crisp, completely engaging performances from both leads, with Louis' role possibly more difficult. Beautiful execution all around.

A very strange movie that uses a sci-fi framework to examine difficulties people face in forming connections and sustaining relationships very ambitious and not totally successful, it benefits from a strong lead in Lea Seydoux and sharp direction. Still, it bites off more than it can chew thematically.