Viggo Mortensen, Léa Seydoux and Kristen Stewart Feature in the ‘Crimes of the Future’ Teaser
David Cronenberg’s latest is full of creepy, strange imagery.
(L to R) Léa Seydoux, Viggo Mortensen, and Kristen Stewart in David Cronenberg’s ‘Crimes of the Future.' Photo courtesy of Neon.
When you know that a movie is “from the mind of David Cronenberg”, that’s a giant sign to expect, usually, at least, a whole lot of weirdness.
Because while he has made the gritty likes of ‘Eastern Promises’ and ‘A History of Violence’, his more regular stock-in-trade is body horror, striking visions, and unique characters. So, the teaser for ‘Crimes of the Future’ offers plenty of that.
Cronenberg’s latest, which is part of this year’s Cannes official selection, stars Viggo Mortensen (a regular Cronenberg collaborator who seems to have found something of a kindred spirit in the director), Kristen Stewart, Léa Seydoux, Scott Speedman and Don McKellar, in a startling story of body modification and human evolution.
Though this brief teaser is more focused on tone than plot, the official synopsis does at least offer some illumination…
“In a not-so-distant future, humankind is learning to adapt to its synthetic surroundings. Their biological makeup changed; many humans have adapted to life with ‘Accelerated Evolution Syndrome’ thanks partly to specialized equipment that aids in everything from eating to sleeping.
Beloved performance artist Saul Tenser (Mortensen) sleeps in a womb-like bed suspended in mid-air. The OrchidBed, as it’s called, comes complete with software to anticipate, and adjust his every bodily need. The machine even detects the growth of new organs, which Saul’s creative partner Caprice (Seydoux) can observe and tattoo in his personal operating theatre.
Together, Saul and Caprice have turned the discovery and removal of these new body organs into performance art, via sold-out voyeuristic surgical shows using a sarcophagus-like machine where the surgeries take place.
These human evolutionary changes do not receive universal positivity. Before long, a new secret government entity is established – the National Organ Registry – to discreetly track new organ growths, with particular enthusiasm for Saul’s artistic anomalies. With increased scrutiny on the syndrome and therefore his art, Saul is forced to consider what would be his most shocking performance of all…”
And that’s just the tip of a very weird iceberg, which also promises a group looking to push the boundaries of what human bodies can do.
Cronenberg described the new movie in his own words:
“It's a meditation on human evolution. Specifically - the ways in which we have had to take control of the process because we have created such powerful environments that did not exist previously.
This is an evolution of things I have done before. Fans will see key references to other scenes and moments from my other films. That’s a continuity of my understanding of technology as connected to the human body.
Technology is always an extension of the human body, even when it seems to be very mechanical and non–human. A fist becomes enhanced by a club or a stone that you throw – but ultimately, that club or stone is an extension of some potency that the human body already has.
At this critical junction in human history, one wonders - can the human body evolve to solve problems we have created? Can the human body evolve a process to digest plastics and artificial materials not only as part of a solution to the climate crisis, but also, to grow, thrive, and survive?”
So now you know. As mentioned, ‘Crimes of the Future’ will have its world premiere in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, ahead of a June release in theaters.
