In 2044, artificial intelligence reigns. So much so that human beings must now model themselves on it, and no longer the other way around. It is now advantageous to get rid of, by means of a purge, “strong” emotions, considered dangerous because they are sources of crises and conflicts. Anyone who wants to get an interesting job has to go through this. This is the case of Gabrielle who, in the process, revisits her previous lives of 1910 and 2014. There she meets Louis, whom she loves but keeps at a distance, prey to an indescribable feeling that something terrible is happening to her. waits. In The beastBertrand Bonello, to whom the Festival du nouveau cinéma (FNC) is paying tribute these days, directs Léa Seydoux.
The film is loosely based on one of Henry James’s most celebrated short stories: The beast in the jungle.
“It’s a story that shocked me,” confides the filmmaker he met during his visit to the FNC.
“I discovered it through the stage adaptation by Marguerite Duras [dont Benoît Jacquot tira un téléfilm en 1988]. This news subsequently remained on my desk for a very, very long time. And then, in recent years, I began to feel very strongly the desire to produce a melodrama, a genre that I had never touched. Spontaneously, the news of James came back to my mind and never left me. »
In this regard, Bertrand Bonello specifies that his cinematic impulses are intimately linked to desire – a word that will constantly come up during the interview.
“For me to dive into a film, I have to feel certain that this subject will obsess me for two or three years: it’s a long time to make a film. I have to be sure that the desire will last. »
James’s news provided him with such a guarantee. Soon, Xavier Dolan and Nancy Grant joined the project as co-producers.
“I completely exploded the news, which took place over a few years,” notes Bertrand Bonello.
“I reversed the roles, to no longer have one, but a female protagonist. That was another desire: I had never before had a central female character — in The Apollonides, it was choral. However, I kept the basic argument, faithfully, that is to say someone who does not give in to love for fear that something will come and destroy everything… and who realizes, too late , that this thing was the fear of loving. »
Logic question
The science fiction elements and the concept of emotional purging fit organically into the argument.
“It was writing in stages. I first wrote the camp part in 1910. However, since everything in James comes back to a confrontation between love and fear, I told myself that I had to add fear. So I wrote the part set in 2014, which is a bit like a horror film, almost a slasher… All this to see that two eras were not working, it was shaky: a third was needed. So, I opted for a futuristic foray, which I had never done either. It allowed me to address various concerns that were on my mind, such as artificial intelligence, human catastrophe…”
Here we come to the reason why, in this near future, AI has seen fit to encourage human beings to have a more equal “feeling”.
“Emotions are what make us human, in the best and worst sense of the word. Many of our actions are governed by our emotions, even unconscious ones. Narcissism, selfishness, anger… And that influences behavior. Take politics: if we took the thirst for power out of the equation, the decisions made would be completely different. In the environment, if we became “reasonable”, we could certainly solve a lot of problems. But we are not, because of the thirst for power, the lure of gain… In this sense, logically, machines could undoubtedly resolve all kinds of situations that human beings cannot resolve. . »
Still in relation to this near future, the vision proposed by Bertrand Bonello is daring minimalism. Budgetary circumstances played a role, of course, but not only that.
“Right from the start, I envisioned a new direction. Because in science fiction, the two dominant trends are the ultra-technological approach and the postapocalyptic approach. I wanted to offer an alternative path. This is why I opted for the year 2044, because we can imagine that a good part of the current buildings will remain. From this known visual, I began to remove and remove elements again, instead of adding them. »
The antithesis of Blade Runnerin short.
“There is no more Internet, no more advertising, no more smartphones, no more cars… It brings back an illusion of a system that works, but above all it evokes an immense loneliness. You know, I looked for form a lot. I wanted to avoid giving the impression that it’s three stories: it’s one big story, with a single protagonist with an unconscious liability. At the same time, there remained three autonomous universes to develop. In 1910, all feelings were expressed. In 2014, feelings are repressed. In 2044, they are deleted. »
Throughout this unique journey through time, we come to identify recurring motifs, like that of the doll. A traditional toy in 1910, she moves into a human-looking robot in 2044 (Guslagie Malanda).
A doll that dreams
According to the filmmaker, The beast is his most complex film in terms of form, and the densest in terms of substance. An observation that inspires this reflection:
“We live in strange times. We are told that we have never been so free, because we are hyperconnected, but in reality, we are less and less free. We cultivate paradoxes. I find that our current ways of communicating lack humanity. Texting is disembodied. And these thousands of virtual “friends”… Where is the human presence? There is no longer any presence. And this absence of presence brings us back to a robotic side. In the film, at the end, the humanoid doll begins to dream, to have desire. This, at the very moment when humans lose that, lose desire, because desire is considered dangerous in this world. »
When it is pointed out to him that, in his cinema too, desire and love often rhyme with unhappiness (see Something organic, Tiresia, The Apollonidesetc.), Bertrand Bonello smiles thoughtfully.
“It’s true, but it’s not conscious. When we deal with love, I believe we also deal with the end of love. On The beastLéa pleaded for me to change the ending to happy ending, but I refused, because I was making a melodrama. Maybe one day I’ll be able to make a happier film. »
This too will be a question of desire.
The cycle The new cinema of Bertrand Bonello takes place at the Cinémathèque québécoise until October 15, in collaboration with the FNC, where the filmmaker must give a cinema lesson on October 12, and where will be screened The beast on October 15. The film will be released in 2024.