The Shrouds Review
The Shrouds (2024) Film Review, a movie written and directed by David Cronenberg and starring Vincent Cassel, Diane Kruger, Guy Pearce, Sandrine Holt, Elizabeth Saunders, Jennifer Dale, Eric Weinthal, Jeff Yung, Ingvar Sigurdsson, Vieslav Krystyan, Matt Willis, Steve Switzman, Jill Niedoba and Al Sapienza.
Some movies have a style that makes it easy to identify the central creative artistic force behind it without even knowing who it is. That’s not always a good thing because it means that such a filmmaker has made it easy to identify his or her work. David Cronenberg is a master of 1980’s horror (The Fly), 1990’s total obscurity (Crash) and early 2000’s pure cinematic brilliance (A History of Violence). His latest, The Shrouds, played at the New York Film Festival to mixed responses, but later on, garnered some excellent reviews which means it’s certainly polarizing in terms of people’s opinions about it. This is the type of recognizable Cronenberg movie that is served on a silver platter in terms of its terrific acting, gorgeously constructed visuals and high-concept main idea, but it feels a little under-cooked, almost like a meal that should be sent back to the central chef to heat up a bit more.
Vincent Cassel is nothing short of brilliant as the main character, Karsh Relikh, who is going on a date with a woman named Myrna (Jennifer Dale) when we initially meet him at the film’s start. There’s brilliant dialogue here about how you can’t size up a potential love interest with a “Google search.” Facts can be manipulated or omitted, but that’s besides the point when Karsh continues on with his explanations of his work. Karsh isn’t your typical professional and has lost his wife, Becca, who he was unable to have sex with towards the end because of her physical fragility. Becca’s sister, Terry Gelernt (Diane Kruger of Wicker Park fame), was once married to a paranoid genius of sorts named Maury Entrekin (Guy Pearce) and Terry becomes Karsh’s central partner in life.
Karsh owns a restaurant by a cemetery and has come up with GraveTech, a means of seeing our loved ones through their deaths by having an app that allows them access to the decaying buried body of the said person. It’s a great concept, however creepy it sounds, and the plot unfolds in a thought-provoking way that mostly involves dialogue exchanges more than anything else so anyone expecting a traditionally violent Cronenberg horror may find themselves anticipating something other than what will be arriving in the plot developments this film serves up.
Sandrine Holt serves as a key client, Soo-Min Szabo, who plays a central role in the movie as well. Holt is also strong in terms of the way she plays off of the always fascinating Cassel. The interactions between Karsha and the women in his life make up a lot of the film’s substance while the remainder of the picture is made up of exchanges between characters and doctors full of releveant information such as Dr. Hofstra (Eric Weinthal).
As the film progresses, Terry and Karsh will engage in some of the steamiest sex scenes you’ll see this year at the movies. Cassel and Kruger have some on-screen chemistry that will fascinate and frustrate, simultaneously, but still makes for some quintessential Cronenberg moments that are reminiscent of his past work. Of course, there’s sexually explicit dialogue on hand which is something that Cronenberg has been known for since Jeff Goldblum’s character had sex with Geena Davis’ in The Fly back in 1986.
Watching dead people decompose is a fascinating topic, but the movie seems to address it in a way that doesn’t shock or compel the audience sufficiently. There’s a lack of terror underneath the surface of the material which comes across as way more ordinary than it should have at too many given times throughout the picture. There are terrifying moments, but they only work in spurts.
Cassel has all the markings of a genius and plays his role superbly. He has some great scenes opposite Guy Pearce who, I don’t have to remind people, was Oscar-worthy in The Brutalist last year. Pearce plays a weird guy here and this role proves his range as an actor in ways that haven’t been proven before. Diane Kruger steals the show, however, and also provides a voice for another key component of the film’s story line which I shouldn’t say too much about. Kruger hasn’t had a true breakout role that has garnered her the critical attention she truly deserves and this performance ranks as the most daring one she’s ever taken on. Hopefully, it will lead to another fantastic part soon because she is at her most vulnerable here and is nothing short of superb.
The Shrouds concludes on a whimper, though. That may be a deal breaker for some people. This new Cronenberg film is almost all build-up and while there are many “takeaways” from what happens on-screen, there is the fact that many people will be waiting for a big climatic moment that digs deep into the topic the movie portrays. No such moment ever arrived for me. It’s all stunning to behold, but ultimately feels like cinematic costume jewelry instead of the diamond ring it could have been. At this point in Cronenberg’s career, he’s ready to either unveil his best work or simply retire. We’ll see what he does next and if it is more substantial than The Shrouds ultimately is.
Rating: 6/10
Leave your thoughts on this The Shrouds review and the film below in the comments section. Readers seeking to support this type of content can visit our Patreon Page and become one of FilmBook’s patrons. Readers seeking more film reviews can visit our Movie Review Page, our Movie Review Twitter Page, and our Movie Review Facebook Page. Want up-to-the-minute notifications? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Mobile App, Google News, Apple News, Feedly, Twitter, Faceboo