The Shrouds

Click here if you liked this article 52

https://rialtodistribution.com/film/the-shrouds/

Date Reviewed: 09/07/2025

David Cronenberg has been making movies his way for 50 years. During that time, he has probably disgusted as many viewers as he has thrilled, but the fact that he has stayed true to his style, and had the longevity he has, proves there is a fanbase for his work.

Personally, Cronenberg has lost me a couple of times on the journey, where I believe he ‘jumped the shark’ (Naked Lunch and Crash), but he won me back, by dialling things back a little (eXistenZ and A History of Violence). I went into The Shrouds on a Cronenberg-downer, on-the-back of the disappointing Cosmopolis and Crimes of The Future, but after really digging his son’s 2023 movie, Infinity Pool; I was hoping Cronenberg Sr was going to hit back and prove that he was still the big dog in the Cronenberg yard.

Trying to describe the plot of a Cronenberg movie can occasionally be harder than describing cricket’s LBW rule to a Martian, but The Shrouds is a bit more straight-forward than most of his filmography, even though it’s still…weird. As such, it’s not bad as an introduction for a new viewer, to his unique style.

Big-name French actor Vincent Cassel (probably best known to English-speaking audiences for Black Swan and Ocean’s 12) plays Karsh, a grief-stricken widower, who is the brains behind the morbid business GraveTech - an innovative way to allow the living to monitor their departed loved ones in the grave, via 3D imaging provided by burial shrouds that the corpses are wrapped in.

To most people, the prospect of watching a loved one’s body decomposing, sounds about as appealing as a wardrobe overhaul from Kanye West; but in the movie the business is on the cusp of landing some game-changing new clients. But after one of their sites is vandalised, Karsh starts to question the reason behind the attack, and whether they really are that close to breakthrough success, or if these potential clients have ulterior motives?

People familiar with Cronenberg’s work know that there are some director trademarks that normally pop-up in his movies – people with weird fetishes, non-gratuitous sex scenes that have meaning to the plot, body horror physical transformations, and basically a few head-scratching moments. All these aspects are part of The Shrouds, but an experienced Cronenberg-watcher would probably tell you that The Shrouds is a relatively tame example of what he usually delivers.

Cassel delivers a strong (relative) straight-man role amid the weirdness, allowing the viewer to both relate to how he is reacting, but also live voyeuristically through his character’s unconventional choices and some of the unusual situations he finds himself in. Diane Kruger (Inglourious Basterds, National Treasure) is solid, without appearing to extend herself. But considering she is playing 3 different roles, affecting an accent, and performs half her scenes naked; maybe it’s good acting that has her appearing to do it all effortlessly. Guy Pearce (Memento, LA Confidential) as Maury, drives most of the story beyond the first act, making his performance crucial to the movie’s success. Pearce straddles the line between being appropriately erratic, eccentric, and paranoid, and just over-acting. But he never fully crosses that line. Meaning that his performance doesn’t distract the viewer from the story, and succeeds in moving important plot points along.

Overall, The Shrouds is a much more accessible movie, and a much more enjoyable experience than Cronenberg's previous release (Crimes of the Future). The slowish pace, relatively tame output (by Cronenberg standards), and lack of clarity with the movie’s conclusion, left me a little frustrated as the credits rolled. But the next day I found myself thinking about The Shrouds, and trying to piece together my own interpretation of it. And if you’re replaying scenes over in your head the next day and comparing notes with other viewers on the meaning of many of these scenes; I think the movie has worked on a few levels. 

Reviewed by Dion Gaunt