Vincent Cassel Archives

April 17, 2025

by Carla Hay

Vincent Cassel and Diane Kruger in “The Shrouds” (Photo courtesy of Sideshow and Janus Films)

Directed by David Cronenberg

Culture Representation: Taking place in Canada, the sci-fi horror film “The Shrouds” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Asian people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A widower, who owns an unusual business where people can visually monitor corpses that are insides of graves, tries to solve the mystery of who’s trying to sabatoge his business.

Culture Audience: “The Shrouds” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of filmmaker David Cronenberg, the movie’s headliners and body horror movies.

Vincent Cassel and Guy Pearce in “The Shrouds” (Photo courtesy of Sideshow and Janus Films)

“The Shrouds” can get muddled and has some pacing that’s too slow. However, it’s a generally intriguing mix of a sci-fi horror story, a mystery thriller and a conspiracy tale that explores the intersections of corporate greed and death exploitation. The movie is supposed to be set in an unspecified period of time but it touches on timeless issues of grief and what happens beyond death.

Written and directed by David Cronenberg, “The Shrouds” had its world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival and subseuqently made the rounds at other film festivals in 2024, including the Toronto International Film Festival and the New York Film Festival. “The Shrouds” takes place in an unnamed city in Canada. The movie was actually filmed in Toronto.

“The Shrouds” begins by showing a widower named Karsh (played by Vincent Cassel) looking through a hole in a rock wall as he sees the floating corpse of his wife Rebecca, nicknamed Becca (played by Diane Kruger), who died of cancer six years ago. The movie has several dream-like sequences where the lines are blurred between reality and hallucinations.

Viewers soon find out that Karsh is so obsessed with what’s happening to the corpse of his wife, he’s made an entire business of out it. Karsh also has an artificial intelligence assistant named Hunny (also played by Kruger), who looks eerily like a young version of Becca. Hunny is a perky and helpful assistant.

Karsh is next seen getting a dental exam. His dentist Dr. Hofstra (played by Eric Weinthal), tells Karsh, “Grief is rotting your teeth.” Dr. Hofstra then offers to give Karsh the JPG photos of Becca’s teeth from past dental exams. Karsh politely declines this offer.

The next scene takes place at The Shrouds, the name of the business that Karsh owns. It’s a combination of a high-tech, non-denominational cemetery and a restaurant, with the cemetery located right outside the back of the restaurant. As morbid as this might sound, apparently the business is doing well enough that Karsh hopes to expand his business to other cities and is looking for investors.

Karsh is having lunch at The Shrouds restaurant while he’s on a first date with a woman named Myrna Shovlin (played by Jennifer Dale), who describes herself as someone who’s been divorced for 20 years. This date was arranged by Dr. Hofstra, who thought that Karsh and Myrna would hit it off and because he thinks lonely Karsh needs to start dating again. The Shrouds restaurant is decorated with artifacts of ancient shrouds (displayed in glass cases) that Karsh tells Myrna are real shrouds.

Karsh and Myrna makes some small talk. He admits he’s still having a hard time getting over the death of his wife Becca. He tells Myrna that when Becca was buried, “I had an intense, visceral urge to get in the box with her.” Karsh also says that he can’t stand the thought of Becca being alone in her grave. He also describes himself as a “non-observant atheist.”

He further explains that Becca was Jewish, which is why she didn’t want to be cremated. Karsh adds, “She said she wanted to lie beside me in death.” Karsh then shows Myrna what The Shrouds cemetery business looks like by demonstrating how he uses it.

That’s how Myrna finds out that the business has hi-tech graves with built-in video screens that allow people to watch and monitor the corpses inside the graves by computer-related devices with access to the screens. Karsh brags to Myrna that his company has invented the technology (called GraveTech) to make this type of grave monitoring possible. He tells Myrna that people who sign up for this service are not repulsed by looking at rotting corpses but are comforted by this activity.

Karsh also tells Myrna that by monitoring Becca’s corpse, he feels connected to her with her body in death, just as he was in life—perhaps even more in death because he has complete control over when he can see Becca. “And it makes me happy,” Karsh comments. This creepy revelation is enough to make Myrna feel uncomfortable. She quickly ends the date, and Karsh never sees her again.

Karsh will soon become consumed with two other women who become his lovers, as already revealed in “The Shrouds” trailer. Terry (also played by Kruger) is Becca’s twin sister. Terry used to be a veterinarian, but she now works as a dog groomer. Terry is a conspiracy theorist who believes that Becca was secretly being used for experiments during Becca’s cancer treatments.

Soo-Min (played by Sandrine Holt) becomes Karsh’s other lover. She meets Karsh because she was sent by her husband Karoly Szabo (played by Vieslav Krystyan), a wealthy Hungarian who might be interested in bringing The Shrouds to Europe. Soo-Min happens to be blind, but she doesn’t let her blindness stop her from being a shrewd and calculating businessperson.

Before these romantic entanglements happen, The Shrouds cemetery is mysteriously vandalized. The perpetrator also sent a video recording to Karsh of the nighttime vandalism when it happened. The video does not show the vandal’s face, and the vandal doesn’t speak in the video.

Karsh doesn’t report this crime to law enforcement because he thinks it will be bad publicity for his business. Instead, he enlists the help of a computer technology expert named Maury Entrekin (played by Guy Pearce) to try to find out who’s behind this sabotage. Maury also happens to be the ex-husband of Terry, but he has remained on friendly terms with Karsh since the divorce.

The movie’s most valuable player in the cast is undoubtedly Kruger, who gives standout performances as three very different characters. She makes each character very distinct from each other in very convincing ways. Cassel is adequate in his role but comes across as somewhat stiff in some scenes. Holt and Pearce are serviceable in their performances.

Cronenberg is known for making movies with striking and inventive visuals. In this regard, “The Shrouds” continues that tradition. However, this movie won’t be considered a masterpiece. Some of the characters could have been better-developed. For example, Terry is ultimately defined by her feelings for Karsh (she had a longtime crush on him) and some sibling rivalry cattiness (Terry was jealous of the more-glamorous Becca), rather than being a well-rounded person with a full life of her own

“The Shrouds” blends the multiple storylines—the mystery of the vandal, Karsh’s love triangle, and the business expansion of The Shrouds—to sometimes clumsy results. And at one point in the movie, it becomes very easy to figure out (before it’s actually revealed in the movie) who’s responsible for trying to ruin Karsh’s business. And as a horror movie, it’s not that scary and is really more of a psychological drama. Despite these flaws, “The Shrouds” can keep viewers interested if they are curious about finding out the answer to the mystery and want to think about what would happen if GraveTech cemetery technology existed in real life.

Sideshow/Janus Films will release “The Shrouds” in select U.S. cinemas on April 18, 2025, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas on April 25, 2025.

January 10, 2020

by Carla Hay

“Underwater”

Directed by William Eubank

Culture Representation: The movie’s characters are a predominately white, educated crew of underwater explorers (with one African American and one Asian) who are tasked with drilling for resources in the deep ocean when they come under attack and fight for their lives.

Culture Clash: Telling a story with an implied environmental message, “Underwater” shows what happens when deep-ocean creatures fight back against humans who plunder their territory.

Culture Audience: “Underwater” will primarily appeal to those looking for a suspenseful sci-fi/horror movie that won’t be considered a classic but will provide about 90 minutes of escapist entertainment.

Kristen Stewart in “Underwater” (Photo by Alan Markfield)

Kristen Stewart: action hero? Taking massive cues from Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley character in “Alien,” Stewart goes from brainy, introspective crew member to kick-ass warrior, as she takes on deep-sea monsters in the sci-fi/horror film “Underwater.” After starring in the 2019 comedy reboot fiasco of Columbia Pictures’ “Charlie’s Angels,” Stewart (who’s been making mostly arty indie films for the past several years) has taken another step into major-studio action fare—but in 20th Century Fox’s “Underwater,” she’s going for scares instead of laughs.

During the opening credits of “Underwater,” there are flashes of media headlines and news reports about unconfirmed sightings of mysterious creatures in the deep ocean. According to the headlines, a major corporation named Kepler has been mining the deep oceans for resources, and hasn’t been giving full explanations for why employees have apparently disappeared from the underwater drilling sites. These elaborate, high-tech facilities (which are seven miles below the ocean surface) look like a cross between a factory, a spaceship and an underground bunker. They’re so high-tech that the Kepler workers living in these facilities for weeks or months at a time don’t need to wear oxygen masks or submarine suits when they’re in the building.

Within the first five minutes of the film, we’re barely introduced to Stewart’s mechanical/electrical engineer character Norah Price (who looks pensive as she brushes her teeth, muses about her isolation in a voiceover, and thinks about her broken love affair with her former fiancé) when the facility is hit with a massive explosion that kills many people in the crew and destroys the emergency equipment. Six of the surviving crew members, including Norah, find each other and agree to a desperate plan to walk across the ocean floor to an abandoned facility named Roebuck, in the hopes that Roebuck’s emergency equipment still works so they can escape or call for help.

The other five crew members are crew captain Lucien (played by Vincent Cassel), a take-charge Frenchman who has a 14-year-old daughter waiting for him at home; marine biology student Emily (played by Jessica Henwick), an inquisitive type who scares easily; operations expert Smith (played by John Gallagher Jr.), who’s in a romantic relationship with Emily; systems manager Rodrigo (Mamoudou Athie), a solid guy who has a dorky side; and wisecracking Paul (played by T.J. Miller, who can’t seem to break out of his typecast as a supporting character who’s socially awkward and talks too much). They soon find out what caused the explosion (Hint: It wasn’t faulty equipment.)

Because the frantic action begins so early in the film, the “Underwater” screenplay by Brian Duﬃeld and Adam Cozad doesn’t leave much room for character development. The actors do the best that they can with the generic characters and mostly forgettable dialogue that were written for them. The movie’s biggest asset, under the choppy direction of William Eubank, is the way it ramps up suspense, even if there are glaring plot holes the size of the ocean where these crew members are trapped. The visual effects for the sea monsters also achieve their intended impact, but the creatures’ very existence in the ocean (much like Godzilla) requires a huge suspension of disbelief. And cinematographer Bojan Bazelli serves up some compelling shots that might give some people the feelings of dizziness or claustrophobia if the movie is watched on a big screen.

However, the “Underwater” filmmakers don’t want viewers of this movie to think too hard, because then you’ll start to ask questions that unravel the plot, such as: “How could creatures of this size and quantity escape detection for so long?” Even if one company tried to cover up the existence of these monsters, their impact on the environment would be noticed already by too many marine biologists and people who work directly in the ocean. Monsters in outer space make more sense if they’re supposed to be undetected by humans on Earth. And at least in the world of Godzilla, millions of people in that world know that Godzilla is a creature that lives in the ocean. In “Underwater,” these monsters are a total surprise to the unlucky crew members who encounter them.

Just like a lot of movies whose plot is driven by suspense, “Underwater” also has a “race against time” element because (of course) the survivors are running out of oxygen. But this plot device is conveniently ignored when these so-called trained underwater professionals waste a lot of oxygen by talking too much. Paul, the annoying motormouth, is the chief culprit. In order to enjoy this movie, you can’t pay attention to the screenplay’s inconsistencies in how their underwater suits are supposed to work.

And since this is a horror movie, not everyone is going to get out alive. But there will be moments of further disbelief when certain characters go through things that would kill someone in real life, and then they survive, and you’re left wondering, “How are they still alive…and with their hair still neatly in place?” And—this is no joke—you can see freshly applied beauty makeup on one of the actresses’ faces after her character has supposedly gone through underwater hell. There must be some industrial-quality waterproof lipstick they have in that underwater bunker. There’s also a small stuffed animal that gets carried around as a good luck charm that somehow doesn’t get lost or destroyed during all the mayhem. “Underwater” is not a movie made for people who pay attention to these kinds of details.

“Underwater” is certainly not the worst horror film of 2020, and the movie’s ending should be commended for not being a total cliché. However, if you want a horror flick with memorable characters and a solid plot, then you’ll have to look elsewhere.

20th Century Fox released “Underwater” in U.S. cinemas on January 10, 2020.

Tag: Vincent Cassel

Review: ‘The Shrouds,’ starring Vincent Cassel, Diane Kruger, Guy Pearce and Sandrine Holt

Review: ‘Underwater,’ starring Kristen Stewart