Picture of the film CRIMES OF THE FUTURE by David CRONENBERG © Nikos Nikolopoulos
Crimes of the Future: Cronenberg returns to the screen and Sci-Fi
"I think some people will leave after the first scene," warns David Cronenberg. With Crimes of the Future, a transgressive thriller mixing art with surgery, he doesn't plan on giving his audience any respite. The director of Crash (Special Jury Prize in 1996), Cosmopolis and A History of Violence makes a resounding return to the big screen after an eight-year absence.
Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensen) is an artist esteemed for his revolutionary and subversive performances. With the help of Caprice (Léa Seydoux), a former surgeon, he removes body parts and carries out the metamorphosis of his organs. Timlin (Kristen Stewart), an investigator from the National Organ Registry, closely tracks their activities. However, a strange group appears that wants to use Saul to reveal the next step in human evolution to the world.
David Cronenberg takes us to an alternative future endowed with very advanced technologies different from our own, where human beings consume plastic. The master of body horror crafts a science-fiction thriller that addresses transhumanism. We are at a major turning point in the history of humanity," he states, before wondering,
“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?”
These questions regarding the human species were already motivating David Cronenberg twenty years ago. Crimes of the future was written in 1999, but was perhaps a little too avant-gardist at a time when the concepts of ecology and especially transhumansim were not as salient as they are today. David Cronenberg allowed himself to be convinced by his producer that the moment had finally come, so he recruited Viggo Mortensen, Léa Seydoux et Kristen Stewart, three brilliant and daring actors.
