Bertrand Bonello explains the surprising end credits of The Beast

Why does the Saint Laurent director’s stunning science fiction fresco end with a QR code?

We know since its screening at the Venice Film Festival that The beastthe new film from Bertrand Bonello, does not end like the others. In fact, instead of the end credits, there is only a QR code, which stays on the screen for a minute before disappearing. If you want to know the list of the technical team and the actors and actresses, you will have to take out your smartphone.

An artistic choice which is perfectly explained by the theme of the film, since The beast –“a fascinating melodrama carried by its sparkling lead actress” according to our review– takes place in 2044 in a society where we seek to “to clean” his DNA and get rid of his emotions by purging his past lives – an experience that Gabrielle, the heroine played by Léa Seydouxwho goes into the past, to Paris in 1910 and to Los Angeles in 2014.

The Beast: Léa Seydoux exceptional in a dizzying film (review)

In the press kit of The beastBonello explains that the QR code is “very consistent” with the film. “In general, a credits is a moment of emotion, with music, names parading, spectators getting up one after the other and preparing to return to the light outside.“, says the filmmaker. “Here we are in a world where affects have been banned, so it is logical that they are also banned from the credits. Only Gabrielle is still capable of feeling. That makes her even more alone, I think.”

A priori, this is a first: no film before The beast did not imagine replacing its end credits with a QR code. After receiving information, Bonello sought advice from a lawyer before digitizing his credits so that his artistic gesture was also a legal gesture. He also interspersed his credits with short bonus features from the film.

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