THE SHROUDS

by Victoria Alexander

The master of “Body Horror” once again goes deep into the mutilation of the body, the intimacy of death and spiritual resurrection of a loved one. It is fascinating and macabre.

It is well known but rarely publicized that some people have peculiar fetishes. Director/writer David Cronenberg has explored fetishes such as car crashes (CRASH, 1996) as sexual stimulation. In THE SHROUDS, it is the fascination with disintegration of the human body. Well, everyone has their secret kink.

Most of Cronenberg’s work, beginning with SCANNERS (1981), VIDEODROME (1983), THE FLY (1986), DEAD RINGERS (1988) and eXistenZ (1996), deals with the transformation of the human body.

This theme of one’s intentional or unintentional modification of the body is notable in Cronenberg’s 2022 film, CRIMES OF THE FUTURE, where beauty is ranked internally rather than externally. There is a village of people dedicated to seeking the most beautiful internal body. There is a title, sash, and a college scholarship for the winner.

French director Julia Ducournau’s 2021 film TITANE is a “body horror” sensation.

The global success of reshaping one’s face and body by plastic surgery has made every hopeful star, every over-35-year-old star, and TikTok “influencer” all look the same due to the current limitations of plastic surgery. There are only so many miracles a surgeon can do.

The next breakthrough is creating a workable vagina for trans women and a workable penis for trans men.

Some day “health” may overtake “beauty” as the most enviable commodity, but not now.

Karsh (Vincent Cassel) is a wealthy Toronto businessman with various interests. He owns a fabulous restaurant in the center of an elite graveyard, named GraveTech. He is an investor in the cemetery. The last time I visited Cimetiere du Père Lachaise in Paris, there were not only photos of the deceased but little videos about their life. There are currently 101 famous graves in Père Lachaise, but only one with a high gate around it.

At GraveTech, each gorgeous, select grave has a livestream of the decomposing body of the deceased. Using high-tech advancements, the livestreams can zero in on parts of the body and move the corpse for different views.

This is certainly a leap from the Victorian practice of keeping a locket of a dead loved one’s hair.

GraveTech is the future’s mummification. It is the extreme of the newest industry called “Grief Tech.” From “Never Say Goodbye,” a June 2025 article in the New York Times, I quote: “…chatbots trained on the communications of a person who has died to a program that uses virtual reality to create a 3-D avatar of a deceased loved one — a remarkably lifelike presence.” The article references a program called StoryFile that creates an avatar of a loved one that could converse through a video screen, as if your loved one is talking to you via Zoom.

Karsh’s wife Becca (Diane Kruger) died four years ago of an aggressive cancer. During the period of her illness, her former lover, now her MIA doctor, had been removing parts of her diseased body. Becca came to feel her body parts were an essential piece of the doctor’s important work.

We learn all this through a blind date set up by Karsh’s dentist. It is certainly a unique place for a first meeting. The restaurant’s décor is sophisticated with larger-than-life shrouds that Karsh has designed for the dead to be buried in. Karsh is so proud of his cemetery that he offers to show Myrna (Jennifer Dale), after their lunch, his wife’s advanced decaying body.

An international market has emerged for GraveTech burial sites.

Interesting, what would be the legal status of this? Would one have to sign a paper allowing your body to be viewed after death? Is your body still yours after death?

I always plan on starting a GoFundMe called “Bring My Mummy Home.” Those “elite” ancient Egyptians would be horrified that they are now on view in museums around the world! We have unearthed their tombs and are desecrating their religion.

How would you like having your dead body on view for a small fee?

Karsh, after perfecting the technology, observes Becca’s decaying body up close for hours every day. One day he notices strange growths on Becca’s body. These peculiar growths seem deliberately placed.

Soon after, GraveTech is vandalized, and some graves are overturned and damaged. Karsh is negotiating with important new clients, possibly franchising the cemetery concept. Are his competitors in Russia and China hellbent on destroying his high concept? This kind of negative publicity will ruin his business.

Karsh goes to see Becca’s identical twin Terry (Kruger). Terry happens to be the ex-wife of Karsh’s tech genius brother, Maury (Guy Pearce). Maury set up GraveTech’s live streaming. He has also built Karsh a virtual all-knowing assistant, Hunny (Kruger), who runs his life and looks and sounds like an animation version of Becca.

Two brothers married two sisters.

Karsh is obsessed with Becca and Maury does not want to live without Terry. These brothers need to find a new time-consuming hobby.

If you have seen THE BRUTALIST, Pearce’s role here is, remarkably, a Cronenberg metamorphosis.

The vandalism of the graves could threaten expansion. A rich, dying old man has sent his blind wife Soo-Min (Sandrine Holt) to evaluate GraveTech. Since Karsh is obsessed with the years spent watching Becca losing her breast and arm to amputation, his attraction to the beautiful Soo-Min is understandable, but it is her blindness that feeds Karsh’s lust. Soo-Min has a flaw that cannot be fixed. One of her senses – sight – is dead.

Terry, Soo-Min and Hunny are all manifestations of Karsh’s maniacal craving to defeat Becca’s death, so every female is Becca’s stand-in.

Who caused the vandalism and why, Karsh’s vivid memories of Becca, and his sexual substitutes are all expressions of Cronenberg’s own obsession of grief and his refusal to accept death. Death is so commonplace! Why obscenely rich people die shocks me. And our new rich agree. Why should enjoying all the world offers have a too short rental contract?

At least the Egyptian pharaohs had the right idea: bury all their riches with them. Ancient Chinese emperors were buried with their servants, concubines and members of their court, ensuring their comfort and status in the afterlife.

The entire cast is exceptional, with this being Cassel’s third film with Cronenberg. THE SHROUDS is the writer-director’s most sexually charged. Cassel may be Cronenberg’s doppelgänger, and he is mesmerizing. Kruger’s nudity highlights the intimacy the couple shared. Google’s AI Overview says Cronenberg has made 22 feature films. Quentin Tarantino, who famously condemned great directors staying too long making lousy movies, must consider Cronenberg the outlier.

"The ALL is Mind; The Universe is Mental."

Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer Critic.

For a complete list of Victoria Alexander's movie reviews on Rotten Tomatoes go to:

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/critics/victoria-alexander/movies

Contributing to:FilmsInReview: http://www.filmsinreview.com

Member of Las Vegas Film Critics Society

Personal email:  victoria.alexander.lv@gmail.com