Author Henry James parable of paralyzing anxiety The Beast in the Jungle treats the case of a man who misses his own life in an attempt to avoid the catastrophe his is certain will befall him. Director and co-writer Bertrand Bonello has adapted the story for an age that is anxious about what it even means to have a life — or even be human. (Post AI, what can we do that our dolls can’t?) It’s 2044, and mankind has done something so bad that it can no longer be trusted with itself. Too many strong emotions, leading to too many disasters. That's humanity! But the Buddhists have always known that desire was the problem, and purification the solution. Passion is just a kind of suffering, after all, something that assaults and overwhelms us. And who would not want to be free of suffering? And maybe get a less menial job to boot? The good news: what used to take many lifetimes of religious practice can now be achieved in minutes, thanks to science! Léa Seydoux stars as a woman who left her husband for George MacKay once upon a time (passion!), but now, the two are thinking of going under the needle and getting free of “affects.” The story takes its time relating all this, beginning instead in the glamorous past when the romance first began — well, after a disconcerting green-screen opening in which Seydoux acts out her eventual confrontation with the Beast. The movie is asking you to sink into its techno-dreamstate, to get lost in the gorgeous world that we have wrought from our desires before becoming utterly spooked by it. MacKay is a pleasant (and unpleasant) surprise as a suave leading man (and its opposite), while Seydoux makes the absolute most of her porcelain features and her considerable magnetism. The viewer feels for her, and feels with her, even as she struggles to feel less. (2024) — Matthew Lickona