In an eerie, deceptively placid near-future, a techno-entrepreneur named Karsh (Vincent Cassel) has developed a new software that will allow the bereaved to bear witness to the gradual decay of loved ones dead and buried in the earth.  While Karsh is still reeling from the loss of his wife (Diane Kruger) from cancer — and falling into a peculiar sexual relationship with his wife’s sister (also Kruger) — a spate of vandalized graves utilizing his “shroud” technology begins to put his enterprise at risk, leading him to uncover a potentially vast conspiracy.

Written following the death of the director’s wife, the new film from David Cronenberg (The Fly, A History of Violence, Videodrome, Crimes of the Future) is both a profoundly personal reckoning with grief and a descent into noir-tinged dystopia, set in an ominous world of self-driving cars, data theft, and A.I. personal assistants.  Offering Cronenberg’s customary balance of malevolence and wit, The Shrouds is a sly and thought-provoking consideration of the corporeal and the digital, the mortal and the infinite.

David Cronenberg’s latest dramatic sci-fi thriller is a reflective stunner that combines the maestro’s signature body horror with profound elder-statesman reflection.  Entering his 80s, Cronenberg continues to find new ways to innovate what can be done with cinema, losing none of his filmmaking’s edge while demonstrating a newfound sense of human empathy; the result is a film that astonishes while also being his most accessible film since A Dangerous Method.  Starring Vincent Cassel (Black Swan), Diane Kruger (Inglorious Basterds) in a dual performance, and Guy Pearce (Academy Award nominee for The Brutalist), The Shrouds had its world premiere in competition at Cannes and proceeded to top-tier fall festivals that include TIFF and NYFF.

“One of Cronenberg’s best in quite a while.  The Shrouds is a deeply compelling and personal meditation on mortality from a filmmaker who has spent his career examining the relationship between technology, intimacy, and the complicated human psyche.” – Jim Laczkowski, Director’s Club

“Like 2022’s superb Crimes of the Future, The Shrouds serves as a reminder that, at 81 years old, Cronenberg is still one of the world’s great filmmakers: bold, uncompromising, clever, and fearless.” – Adam Nayman, The Ringer

“Feels like one of the greatest encapsulations of loss and one we might look at more and more fondly as time goes by.” – Rafaela Sales Ross, The Playlist