THE BEAST

THE BEAST

Opening at the Cinema Art Theater in Lewes

Beginning May 3, The Rehoboth Beach Film Society’s Cinema Art Theater presents THE BEAST is a sci-fi drama about lovers across space and time.

The year is 2044: artificial intelligence controls all facets of a stoic society as humans routinely "erase" their feelings. Hoping to eliminate pain caused by their past-life romances, Gabrielle (Léa Seydoux) continually falls in love with different incarnations of Louis (George MacKay). Will the process allow Gabrielle to fully connect with Louis in the present, or are the two doomed to repeat their previous fates? Visually audacious director Bertrand Bonello (Saint Laurent, Nocturama) fashions his most accomplished film to date: a sci-fi epic, inspired by Henry James' turn-of-the-century novella, suffused with mounting dread and a haunting sense of mystery. Punctuated by a career-defining, three-role performance by Seydoux, The Beast poignantly conveys humanity's struggle against dissociative identity and emotionless existence. [2023, France, 146 min, Rating: NR]

Kat Sachs of the Chicago Reader writes, “It’s a textually dense, formally ambitious, and supremely engaging, genre-melding treatise on fear and love."

Screening times 3 pm on Fri (May 3), 7 pm on Sat (May 4) and 7 pm on Thu (May 9).  Admission is $9 for members, $11.50 for general audiences and $5 for students (student tickets available only at the theater box office). Purchase advance tickets online at rehobothfilm.com or at the Cinema Art Theater box office in Lewes, Wednesday-Sunday from 12:00 Noon to 5:00 PM.