The Beast Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.0

The Beast Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 12, 2025

Perhaps just a little comically considering how it's been adapted for this rather unique film, Henry James' The Beast in the Jungle actually had an almost Twilight Zone-esque reveal where a man's obsessive fear that something bad was going to happen to him resulted in a life where he basically did nothing, which then turns out to be the bad thing he had always dreaded. Here, the focal character with an overwhelming sense of foreboding is a woman named Gabrielle (Léa Seydoux), though writer and director Bertrand Bonello has refracted the basic story through a prism which sees the character in the relatively near future "reliving" former lives in preparation for what might be termed an AI recommended "icepick lobotomy" (albeit via the ear), since evidently our inescapable high tech overlords have deemed human beings too emotional and in need of some "firmware updates" to ensure their compliance with the New World Order (one run by AI).

As perhaps indicated by the above, The Beast is such an outré piece, and one so seemingly far removed from its source as to render that source virtually invisible, that on one level this is a film that pretty much requires to viewer to go with a sometimes precipitous flow, and to arguably parse things out later when given time to reflect. The story ping pongs between a number of eras (and aspect ratios) as Gabrielle prepares for her "operation" in order to secure better work, but as part of a "DNA purification" ritual must revisit previous lives to evidently purge herself of what might be jokingly referred to as what L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics called "engrams" (i.e., "negative" psychological/experiential imprints).

In what might evoke echoes of Past Lives in some viewers, it turns out Gabrielle has been involved with Louis (George MacKay) throughout several incarnations, and let's just say it hasn't always ended well (in other words, in this case Gabrielle's fatalistic apprehension turns out to repeatedly be very accurate). What this all has to do with a future AI ruled planet making sure humans are docile little creatures consigned to whatever "lives" they're assigned is anyone's guess (or at least someone other than this reviewer), but the film is weirdly hypnotic in its own way, and Sedoux is very appealing in what amounts to multiple roles.

The film is already "meta" enough to begin with, but it begins with Seydoux in front a green screen rehearsing for what is presumably a later "attack" scene (though the background seems practical in the actual segment). Presumably that "meta" aspect might be transferred to James' original thesis in terms of there being an analogy between fearing having a bad experience and so choosing to have no experiences, and (in this version) fearing having overwhelming emotions, though in this case there's an external force offering a "solution" to that problem. In any case, if Bonello's adaptive attempt may be a bit muddled, the result is curiously captivating.

The Beast Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Beast is presented on Blu-ray courtesy Criterion's Janus Contemporaries and The Criterion Channel imprints with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in a variety of aspect ratios. This looks like it had both a digital capture and printed film workflow with a 4K DI, and the result is a beautifully organic looking presentation that typically offers crisp detail and a really nicely suffused palette. Production design is kind of all over the map, with the early 20th century vignettes perhaps understandably offering the most luxe costumes and sets, which are precisely rendered throughout. The 2014 segments are also typically well detailed, while some of the 2044 moments are intentionally shrouded, both in "interview" segments with Gabrielle, but also in a kind of hallucinatory nightclub, and fine detail may ebb a bit there.

The Beast Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Beast features an enjoyable DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that segues back and forth between French and English. The varying timelines and resultant environments offer some interesting engagement of the surround channels for both ambient background effects but also some intermittently troubling sound effects (like that drill headed for Gabrielle's brain). Bertrand and Anna Bonello contributed the score, which is also nicely spacious. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. There are two sets of optional English subtitles, one that translates the French and the other which provides subtitles for entire presentation in both languages.

The Beast Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Meet the Filmmakers (HD; 16:09) is an appealing interview with Bertrand Bonello.


• Trailer (HD; 1:37)

An insert leaflet has an essay by Michael Joshua Rowin.

The Beast Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Tethers between this film and Henry James' novella may be fleeting at best, but even given that lack of connection, I'm not sure Bonello completely makes whatever case he's attempting to completely clear. That said, there's a weirdly hypnotic ambience to this film, and it is almost always visually and aurally interesting even if it ultimately may not make complete sense. Technical merits are solid, and the interview with Bonello enjoyable. With caveats noted, Recommended.