''The Beast in the Jungle'' (french: La Bête dans la jungle) is a 2023

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

film directed by Patric Chiha, from a screenplay by Chiha, Axelle Ropert and Jihane Chouaib, freely adapted from the 1903 novella of the same name by

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

, and starring Anaïs Demoustier,

Tom Mercier Tom Mercier ( he, טום מרסייה; born 30 November 1993) is a French-Israeli actor and comedian. Background Tom Mercier was born in Tel Aviv, Israel. He is the son of French-born hairdresser and entrepreneur Michel Mercier and Israeli diamo ...

and Béatrice Dalle. The film is a co-production between France, Belgium and Austria. It made its world premiere in competition in the Panorama section of the

73rd Berlin Film Festival The 73rd annual Berlin International Film Festival, usually called the Berlinale (), took place from 16 to 26 February 2023. It was the first completely in-person Berlinale since the 70th in 2020. The festival has added a new award for best te ...

on 17 February 2023, and was released theatrically in France by

Les Films du Losange Les films du losange is a film production company founded by Barbet Schroeder and Éric Rohmer in 1962. The company funds and distributes many films from the French nouvelle vague era, directed by Rohmer, Schroeder, Roger Planchon, Jacques Rivett ...

on 16 August 2023.

Plot

For 25 years, from 1979 to 2004, a man and a woman wait together for a mysterious event in a big nightclub.

Cast

* Anaïs Demoustier as May *

as John * Béatrice Dalle as The Physiognomist * Martin Vischer as Pierre * Sophie Demeyer as Alice * Pedro Cabanas as Mr. Pipi * Mara Taquin as Céline * Bachir Tlili as Yacine

Production

Development

In July 2017, it was announced that director Patric Chiha was writing the screenplay for his next film, ''The Beast in the Jungle'', freely adapted from the 1903 novella of the same name by American-British author

. On 15 April 2019, British magazine '' Screen Daily'' reported that French actor

Gaspard Ulliel Gaspard Thomas Ulliel (; 25 November 198419 January 2022) was a French actor. He was known for having portrayed the young Hannibal Lecter in ''Hannibal Rising'' (2007), fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent in the biopic '' Saint Laurent'' (2014 ...

had signed on to play the protagonist of the film alongside Luxembourg actress Vicky Krieps as the female lead. The film was originally scheduled to start shooting in Winter 2019 for a 2020 release. Chiha described this film as a "love story" and a "tale of an obsession". On 24 November 2021, '' Cineuropa'' reported that French actress Anaïs Demoustier, Israeli actor

and French actress Béatrice Dalle had been cast for the main roles and that filming would begin on 29 November 2021 in Brussels. ''The Beast in the Jungle'' reunites director Patric Chiha with producer Charlotte Vincent of Paris-based company Aurora Films, who produced his two previous feature films, '' Domain'' (2009), and ''Boys Like Us'' (2014).

handled the international pre-sales for the film at the

2019 Cannes Film Festival The 72nd annual Cannes Film Festival took place from 14 to 25 May 2019. Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu served as jury president. The Palme d'Or went to the South Korean film ''Parasite'', directed by Bong Joon-ho; Bong became t ...

, and also took the French distribution rights. The film is a co-production between France's Aurora Films, along with Belgium's Frakas Productions and Austria's WILDart Film. The production is 42.49% French, 39.27% Belgian, and 18.24% Austrian, and it had the support of the

CNC Numerical control (also computer numerical control, and commonly called CNC) is the automated control of machining tools (such as drills, lathes, mills, grinders, routers and 3D printers) by means of a computer. A CNC machine processes a p ...

, the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, ÖFI (Austrian Film Institute), BeTV, Proximus, RTBF, Screen Brussels, Cinémage,

Arte Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plu ...

/Cofinova, development aid from the CNC, MEDIA and Procirep.

Filming

Filming took place in Vienna, Austria, and in Brussels, Bruxelles-Ville, and Saint-Josse-ten-Noode in Belgium between 11 November 2021 and 14 January 2022. The club Mirano in Brussels served as the set for the nightclub featured in the film.

Release

The film made its world premiere in the Panorama section of the

on 17 February 2023. It was released theatrically in France on 16 August 2023 by

, and in Belgium by O'Brother.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Beast in the Jungle (film), The 2023 films 2023 drama films French romantic drama films Belgian romantic drama films Austrian romantic drama films 2020s French-language films 2023 independent films French-language Belgian films 2020s French films Films set in 1979 Films set in 2004 Films based on works by Henry James Films based on British novels Films shot in Vienna Films shot in Brussels 2023 LGBT-related films French independent films Belgian independent films Austrian independent films French LGBT-related films Belgian LGBT-related films Austrian LGBT-related films LGBT-related romantic drama films