Watching a new film by director David Cronenberg is always interesting. Known for his body horror, dark humor, and sexual themes, Cronenberg uses these ideas to touch on topics that make for an uncomfortable but different and enjoyable experience. The Shrouds, his newest film debuting at TIFF 2024, is a personal project that shows our perception of reality through a familiar lens of humor and sexuality. While the film’s focus sometimes gets bogged down in a confusing narrative, most Cronenberg fans will be satisfied.
It’s 2023, and we meet Karsh (Vincent Cassel), a man mourning the death of his wife, Becca (Diane Kruger), who passed four years earlier from bone cancer. He has built a career creating death shrouds, which allow those in mourning to view bodies as they decompose in the grave. The living watches on video via an app, which leads to some morbidly funny situations. In his grief, Karsh moves in and out of reality, his dreams becoming almost as vivid as real life.
The story also follows different conspiracies, including the vandalization of a gravesite where his wife is buried in Toronto (looking great as a setting in the film) and strange medical experiments done by Becca’s doctor, who has mysteriously gone missing. Adding fuel to the fire is his now ex-sister-in-law (also played by Kruger), a conspiracy enthusiast and almost identical match to Becca. Karsh has built his empire around his dead wife, but some threats are as much personal as professional for him.Â
Cronenberg has stated how personal The Shrouds is, almost autobiographical in nature, surrounding the death of his wife of thirty eight years in 2017. It is a dark and deep dive into his struggles and ideas on grief and loss, combined with his usual love for the body and technology, which makes for a powerful combination. Cassel, as Karsh, is eerily similar to Cronenberg in looks, dress, and even how he talks, which speaks volumes to how the director views the main character and the topic matter.
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The movie sometimes gets bogged down with the conspiracy part, making the film lose its way. A very disheveled but smart Guy Pearce plays Karsh’s brother Maury, who helped build the tech behind his company. It feels like he’s there more to push the conspiracies than to be an actual part of the film. Becca’s sister, while a lover of conspiracies (it pushes all her buttons, as we later find out), is a better fit, easily rolling out the dark humor in some memorable moments between her and Karsh.Â
There are some interesting observations on technology and grief, the way it is used and abused, and how we can justify so many things while at the same time not dealing with the soul-crushing sadness that has taken over our minds and bodies. However, with so many ideas and storylines being introduced, we are left uncertain about what kind of film this is. Being such a personal vehicle for Cronenberg, it is almost like watching a man trying to sort everything out in his head via film, which while beautiful and understandable, is also confusing.
Without question, The Shrouds is a Cronenberg creation. It effortlessly moves through topics of death, grief, and humor, weaving in ideas of technology and how we use it in dark and interesting ways. While there are times the film gets off-path, there is enough here to interest Cronenberg fans and hopefully capture the imagination of a wider audience as well.
The Shrouds had its North American premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.
