--- title: "The Beast: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-beast/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/the-beast" critics_score: 79 critics_reviews: 19 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Beast (2024): what the critics said Critics' score 79 from 19 reviews: 17 positive, 2 mixed, 0 negative. The reviews lean firmly positive. Most critics take Bonello’s century-hopping Henry James adaptation as a large and deliberate gamble that mostly comes off, and the praise gathers around Léa Seydoux, whose performance across three eras is singled out repeatedly as the thing holding the film together. George MacKay is admired alongside her. The mixing of costume drama, sci-fi and thriller is treated as the point rather than a muddle, and several critics reach for Lynch to describe its dream logic and steady unease. The reservations are about length and shape. A number of critics find that the film loses momentum after its first hour, with Time Out arguing the final third turns slack and generic, and Sight and Sound faulting a routine middle stretch and a lack of heat between the leads. The Hollywood Reporter thinks it more intriguing than involving. The spread is narrow, though: no critic dismisses it, and even the doubters credit its ideas and its craft. ## The AV Club — Matthew Jackson Rating A. 1 May 2024. Bonello's film is an ambitious, compelling monster of a movie powered by two tremendous central performances that deliver emotional urgency and depth. It rewards viewers with a haunting, thought-provoking experience despite its length and complexity. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/the-beast-review-an-ambitious-compelling-monster-of-a-1851442968) ## Slant Magazine — Chuck Bowen Rating 3.5/4. 12 September 2023. Festival review. Bonello crafts a shattering vision that interweaves time periods with insight and agitation, culminating in a powerful, original finale. The film's speculative elements and performances create a uniquely affecting experience. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-beast-review-lea-seydoux-george-mackay-bertrand-bonello/) ## Empire — Steph Green Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 28 May 2024. The critic calls it a wholly original work that pulses with prescience, praising Bonello's exploration of technology's impact on human emotion and anxiety across eras, anchored by a standout performance from Léa Seydoux. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/the-beast-2024/) ## IndieWire — David Ehrlich Rating B+. 3 September 2023. Festival review. Bonello delivers a magnificent sci-fi epic that reimagines the source material as a sweeping, star-crossed love story across centuries with strong performances from Seydoux and MacKay. It stands out for its bold genre-blending and emotional resonance. [Read the review](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/the-beast-review-lea-seydoux-george-mackay-1234902052/) ## Little White Lies — Hannah Strong Rating 3/4/4. 29 May 2024. The critic calls it a mind-boggling, sprawling romantic epic with excellent performances from Seydoux and MacKay and strong recurring motifs that tie the timelines together, though the initial period section drags slightly; overall an imaginative big swing that pays off. [Read the review](https://lwlies.com/reviews/the-beast) ## Vulture — Bilge Ebiri Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 4 April 2024. Bonello's unsettling film stands out for its unique blend of genres and timelines, functioning closest to a horror movie about doomed lovers across lifetimes. Seydoux's versatile performance anchors the haunting, off-balance narrative. [Read the review](https://www.vulture.com/article/the-beast-review-theres-really-nothing-else-like-it.html) ## Evening Standard — Maddy Mussen Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 31 May 2024. The critic describes a spellbinding yet suffocating voyage, highlighting the acting masterclass from Léa Seydoux and George MacKay in this visually striking Lynchian film while noting its discomforting atmosphere and lengthy runtime. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/the-beast-2024-review-movie-lea-seydoux-george-mackay-b1160829.html) ## Los Angeles Times — Tim Grierson Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 4 April 2024. The film paints AI anxieties in muted colors through a love story spanning past lives and future selves, ultimately about the terror of being alive and fear of deep feeling. It critiques dehumanization across eras with strong performances from Seydoux and MacKay, proposing we destroy ourselves from within. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2024-04-04/the-beast-review-george-mackay-lea-seydoux-bertrand-bonello-ai) ## The Telegraph Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 30 May 2024. The review describes Bonello's time-hopping fable as creepy and authentically dreamlike, with a self-fracturing structure that recalls Lynch. Seydoux's recurring encounters with MacKay across eras are highlighted as dangerous and compelling in this loose James adaptation. [Read the review](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/the-beast-review-lea-seydoux-george-mackay/) ## Film Comment — Adam Nayman Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 6 October 2023. Festival review. The critic finds Bonello's time-hopping adaptation strange and provocative rather than agreeable, praising its momentum, striking images, and daring use of source material like Elliot Rodger's manifesto while noting it mostly succeeds as a viewing experience. [Read the review](https://www.filmcomment.com/animal-style-nyff61-bertrand-bonello-the-beast-harmony-korine-aggro-dr1ft-review/) ## Time Out — Olly Richards Rating 3/5. 23 May 2024. The critic finds the sci-fi epic thought-provoking, handsomely made and appealingly weird with teeming ideas and strong central performances, but notes that the final third becomes slack, generic and thriller-like, diluting the elegance of the earlier sections. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-beast-review-2024) ## RogerEbert.com — Glenn Kenny 3 April 2024. Bonello delivers a potent horror-tinged sci-fi epic spanning multiple eras that warns of inescapable personal and societal cataclysms born of fear and disconnection. The film stands out for its visceral depiction of digitization's dual nature as both ravishing and nightmarish. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-beast-film-review-2024) ## Screen Daily 3 September 2023. Festival review. The review highlights the film's daring hybrid of thriller, dystopian futurism and heritage drama, its hot-button themes like AI and incel culture, and the strong appeal of Seydoux and MacKay in an uncompromising exploration suited to cerebrally receptive audiences. [Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/the-beast-venice-review/5185101.article) ## Sight and Sound 12 September 2023. Festival review. The critic praises the film's ambitious narrative scale and conceptual boldness across three eras but finds it overstuffed with ideas, lacking chemistry between the leads, and weakened by a generic middle segment, though it has a strong ending and solid production values. [Read the review](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/beast-bertrand-bonellos-most-ambitious-film-date) ## The Guardian — Wendy Ide 2 June 2024. The critic finds the century-spanning Henry James adaptation ambitious and eccentric, with a bewitching dream logic that casts a spell despite its elliptical structure. Seydoux's shape-shifting central performance across three eras is singled out as mesmerizing and central to the film's uneasy fascination with fear and emotion. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/article/2024/jun/02/the-beast-review-a-mercurial-lea-seydoux-is-three-times-a-lady-in-wildly-ambitious-sci-fi-romance-bertrand-bonello-henry-james) ## The Hollywood Reporter — Jordan Mintzer 3 September 2023. Festival review. Bonello's ambitious time-tripping adaptation mixes genres and eras but lacks strong dramatic momentum and forward drive. The film impresses with its craft and conceptual connections across timelines but feels more intriguing than consistently involving. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/the-beast-review-lea-seydoux-george-mackay-bertrand-bonello-1235576746/) ## The New York Times — Beatrice Loayza Rating Critic's Pick. 4 April 2024. Bonello’s audacious interdimensional romance blends sci-fi thriller and noir elements across three eras, held together by delicate emotional threads amid themes of collapse and retribution. The prologue's uncanny green-screen scene sets an unsettling tone sustained throughout the shifting time periods. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/04/movies/the-beast-review.html) ## The Times Rating ★★★★☆. 30 May 2024. The critic recommends feeling rather than understanding this big-screen Henry James adaptation, praising its ingenious structure that places eras in conversation. Seydoux is singled out for dominating every frame with proper screen acting that conveys emotional urgency. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/the-beast-review-lea-seydoux-dominates-every-frame-t0kxtcsmh) ## Collider — Chase Hutchinson Rating 9/10. 14 September 2023. Festival review. The critic praises the film's monumental scope, disquieting dread, and Léa Seydoux's astounding performance across timelines, calling it a formidable work with a striking conclusion despite being unwieldy. [Read the review](https://collider.com/the-beast-review/) ## Eye for Film — Anne-Katrin Titze Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 5 October 2023. Festival review. The film powerfully explores Henry James’s themes of egotism and fear of love across time periods, leaving the viewer breathless with its relevance and cinematic variations. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-beast-2023-film-review-by-anne-katrin-titze) ## Polygon — Siddhant Adlakha Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 12 October 2023. Festival review. The critic hails the film as the purest science fiction experience, praising how Bonello binds three timelines aesthetically and emotionally through dread, longing, and Seydoux's vulnerable performance. [Read the review](https://www.polygon.com/23912037/the-beast-review-henry-james-sci-fi-time-travel/) ## HeyUGuys — Linda Marric Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 22 May 2024. Bonello delivers a mesmerising and thought-provoking blend of sci-fi, romance and thriller with spectacular visuals and compelling performances from Seydoux and MacKay. [Read the review](https://www.heyuguys.com/the-beast-review/) ## The Playlist — Rafa Sales Ross Rating B+. 3 September 2023. Festival review. Bonello crafts a non-conventional epic sci-fi warning about AI and emotional numbness, anchored by Seydoux’s career-defining performance, though it could use trimming. [Read the review](https://theplaylist.net/the-beast-review-lea-seydoux-leads-bertrand-bonellos-epic-time-spanning-sci-fi-warning-about-a-i-venice-20230903/) ## The Skinny — Eilidh Akilade Rating ★★★★. 27 May 2024. The critic describes the film as violent, psychiatric, and rather beautiful, praising the authentic performances of Seydoux and MacKay across timelines while noting it is lengthy, sometimes overcomplicates itself, but ultimately instinctual and gorgeous. [Read the review](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/the-beast) ## Deadline — Damon Wise Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 3 September 2023. Festival review. The critic finds the film a provocative, Lynchian sci-fi that spans three eras in a surreal examination of human relationships and is compelling for those who accept its oddities. Seydoux's performance is singled out as a revelation that anchors the story's sense of fear and artifice. [Read the review](https://deadline.com/2023/09/the-beast-review-bertrand-bonello-trippy-sci-fi-lea-seydoux-george-mackay-1235535250/) ## Film Stories — James Harvey Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 30 May 2024. The film offers an intriguing philosophical sci-fi setup in its first hour with strong performances but loses momentum and fails to sustain interest in the second half. [Read the review](https://filmstories.co.uk/reviews/the-beast-review-an-intriguing-sci-fi-romance-that-runs-out-of-steam/) ## Digital Spy — Mireia Mullor 31 May 2024. The critic calls it one of the best and most unexpected films of 2024, praising Bonello's genre-blending, philosophical depth, and soul-touching love story across timelines while noting it is long and demanding but ultimately worthwhile. [Read the review](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a60921999/the-beast-review/) ## Paste — Jesse Hassenger Rating 6.7. 3 April 2024. The critic finds the film distended and misshapen with an undercurrent of restlessness, praising Seydoux's magnetic performance and some arresting images but noting it struggles to fully transport the viewer. [Read the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/bertrand-bonello/the-beast-review) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/the-beast.md