In an eerie, deceptively placid near-future, a techno-entrepreneur named Karsh (Vincent Cassel) has developed a new software that will allow the bereaved to bear witness to the gradual decay of loved ones dead and buried in the earth. While Karsh is still reeling from the loss of his wife (Diane Kruger) from cancer — and falling into a peculiar sexual relationship with his wife’s sister (also Kruger) — a spate of vandalized graves utilizing his “shroud” technology begins to put his enterprise at risk, leading him to uncover a potentially vast conspiracy. Written following the death of the director’s wife, the new film from David Cronenberg is both a profoundly personal reckoning with grief and a descent into noir-tinged dystopia — set in an ominous world of self-driving cars, data theft, and A.I. personal assistants. Offering Cronenberg’s customary balance of malevolence and wit, THE SHROUDS is a sly and thought-provoking consideration of the corporeal and the digital, the mortal and the infinite.
“Described by co-star Diane Kruger as Cronenberg’s ‘most personal film’ in his decades-long career, THE SHROUDS is also possibly the Toronto writer/director’s best film, showcasing his fascination with body horror, advanced technology and high paranoia in a way that also genuinely touches the heart.” —Peter Howell, Toronto Star “A drolly fluid inspection of classic Cronenberg themes — the deterioration of the flesh, the instability of the image, the paranoia-inducing incursions of technology into every aspect of life — but imbued with a nakedly personal dimension.” —Justin Chang, New Yorker “While I’d argue that Cronenberg doesn’t evince much faith in the purported function of this death technology, that doesn’t stop him from seeing a measure of quixotic and all-too-human sweetness in Karsh’s quest for continued signs of life…. How beautiful it is that we’ll always keep looking for our loved ones in the world, even when we know exactly where to find them.” —David Ehrlich, IndieWire
