How David Cronenberg matured his “Crimes of the Future”

• David Cronenberg returns eight years after his last film.

• The Canadian director stages Léa Seydoux, Viggo Mortensen and Kristen Stewart in a philosophical and aesthetic tale.

• "Les Crimes du futur" evokes the evolution of the human species and multiple disturbing scenes to talk about sex, love and creation.

David Cronenberg is back!

presented in competition at Cannes, proves that the Canadian filmmaker, although absent from the screens (and therefore from the festival) since

in 2014, still has some under the hood.

And not just a little.

“When people ask me why I waited so long to make a new film, I answer that I just took the time to live,” he confides to

.

This break was beneficial to him.

The director of 79 Printemps brought together Viggo Mortensen, Léa Seydoux and Kristen Stewart for a philosophical, aesthetic and erotic tale that speaks of art, love and the evolution of a human species in full decline.

Banish the “old sex”

“It's a film that I wrote in 2000, explains David Cronenberg.

I was inspired by the idea that the human species must evolve to survive in minds as well as in bodies.

Léa Seydoux and Viggo Mortensen, lovers who banished the "old sex" from their relationship, replaced it with public performances as bizarre as they are titillating.

It generates organs through a very special bed.

She tattoos them during popular public surgeries.

“This couple thus gives a new meaning to inner beauty.

The film can be disturbing, which amuses me, it is true that it is frankly not for everyone,” admits David Cronenberg.

Contrary to what he had anticipated, the spectators of the Cannes Film Festival did not leave the screening.

Some looked away during the overly graphic plastic surgery or autopsy scenes, but the loud applause at the end of the screening proved that David Cronenberg hit the nail on the head.

“If Viggo Mortensen looks like me physically in

, it's because this film is very personal to me, confides the filmmaker.

He is as optimistic as I am about our ability to adapt to anything.

Including physical mutations that would effectively solve plastic pollution problems.

Our articles on Cannes are here

The filmmaker turns out to be surprisingly visionary.

"When I recently learned that a surgeon had engraved his initials on the liver of a patient, I understood that reality had exceeded my fiction", says David Cronenberg.

We know that Vincent Lindon, the president of the jury, likes both societal films and atypical works like

by Julia Ducournau, which he came to present at Cannes last year.

He could let himself be seduced by

which is both at the same time.

Both beautiful and – there is no denying it – divisive, this film captivates and disturbs in the most seductive way.

Movie theater

Cannes Film Festival: We attended the screening of "Crimes of the Future" with Kristen Stewart

Movie theater

Cannes Film Festival: Park Chan-wook returns to the Croisette with "Decision To Leave"

• Movie theater

• Cannes Film Festival 2022

• 20 minute video

• kristen steward

• Léa Seydoux

• David Cronenberg