The Beast
The Beast was released in Polish cinemas last week so let me tell you a story about it.
I saw it at Nowe Horyzonty, at the very first screening of the film. I wanted to see it ASAP to decide whether I wanted to explore Bertrand Bonello’s retrospective that the festival offered this year. I had watched a different film of his, Zombi Child, a couple of years earlier and had mixed feelings about it. But I try not to judge after just one film so I wanted to see his newest film before deciding.*
At the time of the screening, I was exhausted. I don’t even remember why but I remember telling myself that if I fell asleep, the film was also available to watch online. While waiting, I made an acquaintance with a guy sitting beside me. We talked until the director came onstage. Honestly, he looked more exhausted than I felt (there were issues with the transport) and frankly everything he had to say was a little bit all over the place.
The film was as much boring as entertaining. I am not sure whether my fun came out of a tired and accepting mind or if there actually was something enjoyable in the film. I very much liked the flow between the timelines. It was quite pretentious and too obvious but I very much liked the effort.
But between the lines, the point became blurry, and the titular “Beast” – less and less frightening. In the end, I couldn’t care less about the characters’ fate. They didn’t make much sense, it was all going nowhere. No surprise, no thrill, nothing.
I’m not sure whether it was the pacing of a very lengthy film (almost two and a half hours) or something was lacking deeper down. For some reason it stayed with me for longer and made me think, but always with the taste of disappointment.
After the screening, Bonello returned onstage and said a few words about the film. The fact that he’d been working on the script for years and had over 20 drafts (if I remember right) made sense. The Beast feels like a patchwork of well-made elements. Something that you love but no matter how much thread you get, you can’t make it whole.
The Q&A had boring questions and even less satisfying answers. But then I wasn’t surprised. I also felt that boredom. I couldn’t find any suitable questions either. Perhaps it said too much.
I don’t think it’s a film to fully understand or like. But it does have its moments and it’s made quite well. Some of the ideas are surprising and there is some comedy here and there. The full concept for me is too bleak but it isn’t badly made. This is one of the “on the fence” films that I can’t either recommend or not. It is very specific and can find its audience.
* Spoiler: I chose not to. That decision wasn’t entirely because of The Beast but the film crossed out the priority flag.
