“Grief is rotting your teeth” says Karsh’s dentist. Karsh is a restaurateur and rest in peace entrepreneur mourning the death of his wife. His dental health is commensurate with his mental health.
Inconsolable since her demise from an aggressive cancer, Karsh invents GraveTech, a revolutionary and controversial technology that enables the living to monitor their dear departed in their shrouds.
It’s certainly perverse, morbid, grotesque, but what else would one expect from David Cronenberg, the grand master of body horror. His latest, and possibly last film, THE SHROUDS is some kind of masterpiece and destined for cult status.
Cronenberg presents Karsh’s grieving as rather healthy, a way out of despair, out of grief. Karsh has literally banked on that: he has invested a lot of money and energy in this high-tech cemetery, entry to which is encrypted for maximum privacy of mourners and the deceased.
The word shroud designates a burial veil but it has other meanings as well. It can mean to cover up and hide, and when multiple graves, including that of Karsh’s wife, are desecrated, a dark conspiracy is uncovered.
Cronenberg was writing this film while experiencing the grief of the loss of his wife, who died seven years ago, and that informs the thematic arc of the film. Often when someone dies, there is always an element of conspiracy that arises within the pain.
One wonders whether the medical treatment was the best, whether the staff really took good care of the sick person, whether the medication was the most appropriate. Was the mutilating mastectomy necessary? Or the amputation of her arm? Guilt builds with grief and conspiracy flourishes.
Vincent Cassel is colossal as Karsh, charismatic and melancholic, mesmeric.
Diane Kruger is a triple treat playing the deceased Becca, her twin sister, Terry, and an avatar called Honey, who has a koala kink.
Guy Pearce is terrific as Karsh’s tech-nerd, hang dog ex brother in law, Maury, described by his ex wife as an equal opportunity conspiracy theorist.
Perverse yet profound, THE SHROUDS is an impressive boundary pushing film, an ironic composition of decomposition from an undeniable master film maker.
