FILM REVIEW: The Shrouds (2025)

The Shrouds - New Release Review

Director: David Cronenberg

Starring: Vincent Cassel, Diane Kruger, Guy Pearce, Sandrine Holt

Written by: David Cronenberg

Produced by: Saïd Ben Saïd, Martin Katz

Cinematography by: Douglas Koch

Original Score by: Howard Shore

Synopsis:

Karsh, an innovative businessman and grieving widower, builds a device to connect with the dead inside a burial shroud.

Thoughts:

David Cronenberg’s latest offering is classic late-era filmmaker, morbid and deliberately sterile. The tone so cold it felt eerily similar to 'Crimes of the Future.' Although this body horror comes with a great sorrow, perhaps producing Cronenberg’s most personal film to date. A story of one man’s grief in the boundless age of technological advancement, where conspiracy and misinformation rule. Vincent Cassel plays tech mogul, Karsh Relikh in this non-biopic. The self professed “non-observant Atheist,” owner of a cemetery is even noted as having “made a career out of bodies” just in case you didn’t get that he’s cast as David Cronenberg’s avatar. 

"Grief is rotting your teeth."

Seeing how the depths of grief can be stretched in attempts to cope but for the mega rich and tech giants of the world, these depths are boundless and quite sad really. Morbidly slick in its presentation with a minimalist grey design that loomed over the film like a foreboding cloud. Inspired by the real loss of Cronenberg’s wife Carolyn, a cinematographer, editor and producer, who died in 2017. 

Many elements feel familiar; the use of media, voyeurism and politics mirror some of the ideas we saw developed early in Cronenberg’s career with 'Videodrome', coming from the truest techno-fascist future. Oh the horror. Artist license is used as a tool to process grief in such a way that the results are mystifying. 'The Shrouds' is a complicated film that rightfully asks; “should cemeteries have restaurants?” 

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There is space to feel like something important might be being said about how we deal with grief though it’s coming purely from a place of capitalism. Interested only in the commodification of death, where the grieving can be exploited and scammed into investing in a concrete crypt with a built in screen and live-streaming capabilities, where you can watch the decomposition of your recently dearly departed right from your living room with the help of the GraveTech app.

Exceptionally dry amidst unnatural dialogue, some absurdly funny moments though there is something that feels so inherently fascist about this one. Posing questions about personal data, privacy and the rights you lose on transit to the afterlife. The lack of sentimentality feels like coping though there are questions to be had about ownership and body politics, it just feels odd placed alongside the sexual fixations and the complete detachment from reality.

But back to the restaurant, which is a part of the cemetery, all owned by Karsh. The business founded by Karsh, is ground breaking and controversial. The topics discussed are burials, cremation and religion - now high tech. The objectification of the human body even beyond death in such a way goes beyond commodification. Must we consent to our bodies rotting in peace or are we to be watched and monitored until there is no more? Plus the decor in the restaurant is giving ‘new void unveiling.’

Diane Kruger’s presence really counteracts the dullness and lethargy that’s felt coming off the screen at times, taking over in her juxtaposing performances as Terry, Karsh’s sister in-law and hauntingly as his wife Becca. Kruger is a highlight in segments of the film. Haunted by grief, experiencing conflicting emotions about Karsh and his particular brand of grieving. Then being dialled up during confrontations, when the paranoia first starts seeping in. Then we see visions or flashbacks of her as Becca and the transformation happening to her body. Not to mention voicing Karsh’s AI chatbot Hunny as well. Hitting every cliche of the AI virtual assistant turned love interest avatar. Though tech-savvy, Karsh is none the wiser to potential consequences of this blind spot, being spied on at every move as well as your personal data being compromised, succumbing to blackmail and all from AI tools.

LISTEN TO THE DISSECTION PODCAST

This unravels with the help of Terry's ex-husband and Karsh’s tech guy, Maury, played by Guy Pearce. With this introduction I feel like it’s a turning point in the film. Guy Pearce comes across stoic and robotic as loser Maury. A lonely and rambling man, reminiscent of a hacker type NPC from GTA. The divorced Maury is still hung up about his split from Terry which leads to his crippling paranoia, wondering where she spends her nights. 

He talks of the one who plots, Dr Jerry Eccler. Maury questions Eccler’s involvement with targeting graves in response to recent vandalism, tapping into data cables for blackmail or evidence. The topic of ownership over Becca’s body fuels Karsh’s anxieties, after catching something checking with the minute by minute, live decomposition of his wife and finding something abnormal. Without drawing attention to himself and this abnormality he is living in. These depths of despair and depravity cross over with the rich and the capitalists, asking the questions, what will happen to you and your personal data when you die? Does it die with your rights too?

Maury’s involvement with Karsh goes deeper in such an odd, desperate, real life way. Learning of Terry’s relationship with Karsh from having access to his computer through extremely invasive means. The small screens on the headstones replace classic portraits. They call it Shroud Cam. Watching the body transforming, viscerally. Along with the GraveTech photo slideshow. The body you are now in ownership of. All this and high resolution zoom for deeper penetration. A virtual 3D rotation right inside the grave. With her. Drowning in grief.

Though in comparison, in these moments 'The Shrouds' feels most akin to Crash. Sardonic, stylish and clinical. High fashion and depravity. The ads for GraveTech felt scarily reminiscent of the assisted dying advertising campaign seen across London in winter 2024. The bleak reality is in a not so distant future. Where nightmare doppelgängers, Tesla’s and the commodification of the living and dead can all exist as one.

Though in the end, all the Citadel industries ramblings and the hacker conspiracies feel like outdated rhetoric. Backed up by a narrative packed with messy theories about data theft and “GraveTech app hacked by Icelandic cyber group” type responses. Co-conspirator concerns. What about “The Chinese?” Or “the Russians?” I’m not sure what to make of these except think that these are the incoherent rambles of an old man obsessed with surveillance politics and 5G. Echoing real present day boogeyman tripe. Ideas expressed are not tied up with a cute bow. Karsh’s wife in a collar comes to him, flashback? Dream? Doesn’t matter.

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A pessimistic and off-putting mystery. Baffling at times. However, I can’t say I was uninterested. This story of a tech mogul struggling in the face of grief, almost like Cronenberg has become all too aware of his critics and the question of “what’s with the body stuff?” The most harrowing reveal being that Cronenberg’s avatar drives a Tesla. A Tesla driving, Saint Laurent wearing, globalist. From the Saint Laurent Production wing “envisioned by Anthony Vaccarello for Saint Laurent, in line with Vaccarello’s assured steering of the brand into the future, while echoing the cinematic breadth and nuances of his collections.” Maybe a true version of Cronenberg or how he might see himself. Sitting behind his screen, working from home and ordering in, the true evil of the world now. Labelled a “corpse voyeur.” Being offered dental scans, preferably JPEG high res format and asking “how dark do you want to go?”

Cronenberg instead touches on all his favourite obsessions, body trauma and doppelgängers. The ending is worth experiencing. Whilst attempting to wrap your head around the last few moments, you suddenly feel as though you have fallen asleep and woken up during the ads. The film ends almost poetically, like another Tesla spot before shifting focus to private planes for hire. The luxurious travel feels like the departure for another realm. Women wrestle for a connection though he’s already committed to the burial plot of his wife. Wardrobe design by Saint Laurent. Scored by the numbing drones of Howard Shore. Unmistakably dystopian.

Verdict: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

-Gary McIlhagga

'The Shrouds' is in UK cinemas July 4th from Vertigo Releasing