The shrouds: David Cronenberg in all intimacy (critic)
The Canadian filmmaker talks about death and mourning by splitting armor in a ghostly spy thriller, both serious, ironic and moving.
We already recognized David Cronenberg very well in the guise of the protagonist of his previous film, The crimes of the futurethis body artist played by Viggo Mortensen. It is even more clearly distinguished through the Vincent Cassel of Shroud. Elegant white hair, Intello Zen manners … The French actor plays Karsh, a futuristic funeral directory entrepreneur who invented a technology that allows his users to observe in real time the decomposition of their deceased bodies. The idea of these connected shrouds came to him after the death of his adored Becca (Diane Kruger) wife … the idea of Shroudshe was also inspired in Cronenberg by the death of his wife, Carolyn, in 2017.
It is a romantic film, but whose emotional load, and erotic outbreaks, are constantly tempered by a form of spectral drought. Touching in what he says of a carnal link that would continue beyond death, and in the way in which its author obstinately invites us into his intimacy, The shrouds Equally get lost in a very talkative story of spying mixing religion, eco -rooting, conspiracy, AI, etc. -A best-of signs of the contemporary who would be laughable if he was not brandished with this amused casualture. By dint of detachment, a ghostly purity, the film almost itself ends up looking like bloodless flesh, a tired member missing at any time. But Cronenberg assumes it, in a fairly touching mixture of gravity, black humor and Dandy irony.
By David Cronenberg. With Vincent Cassel, Diane Kruger, Guy Pearce… Duration 1h59. Released April 30, 2025
