I love how we have a new David Cronenberg film to look forward to this year.
The Cannes Film Festival lineup will be announced on April 11, and one almost certain bet is that Cronenberg’s “The Shrouds,” starring Vincent Cassel, Diane Kruger, Guy Pearce, and Sandrine Holt, will be in competition for the Palme d’Or.
The film still has no U.S. distribution, but French distributor Pyramide Films has announced a September 25, 2024 release date and that the film is 119 minutes. This makes it the longest film of Cronenberg’s career — 1988’s “Dead Ringers” and 1991’s “Naked Lunch” were both 116 minutes (via TheFilmStage).
The film follows Cassel’s innovative businessman, and grieving widower, who builds a device to connect with the dead inside a burial shroud. Production on “The Shrouds” wrapped on June 19th. It was a four week shoot. At 80 years of age, David Cronenberg is as efficient as ever.
Last year, Kruger revealed that she was playing three roles in "The Shrouds": The wife of Cassel's character, the sister of the wife, and "an avatar, a sort of personal assistant". She added that it's about grief and probably the “most personal film of Cronenberg’s career”, hinting that it’s actually about the recent passing of the legendary filmmaker’s wife:
The legendary Howard Shore will be composing the music for Cronenberg’s latest. Shore (“The Lord of the Rings”) has composed many of Cronenberg’s films over the last four decades, including “The Fly”, “Videodrome,” “Dead Ringers”, and “A History of Violence.”
Cronenberg’s last film was 2022’s “Crimes of the Future,” which also competed for the Palme d’Or at Cannes. I personally loved that film. It almost felt like a career capper, a meditative work that encompassed all of the obsessions Cronenberg has tackled in his legendary 50-year career.