The Beast in the Jungle (2019)

Directed by: Clara van Gool | 87 minutes | drama | Actors: Elisabet Johannesdottir, Tommy Schlesser, Claire Johnston, Larisa Faber, Julian Nest, Sarah Reynolds, Christian Bronchart, Joe Gales, Sophie Langevin, Dane Hurst, Jerome Burelbach, Sylvia Camarda

In “The Beast of the Jungle,” a 1903 novella by Henry James, a young man and woman circle each other. They both believe in predestination, whatever that means. May feels like she met John ten years earlier; John is destined for something ‘great’.

As is often the case in novellas, the author aims to link a metaphor, condition or event to a small number of characters. Clara van Gool translates James’ premise into different periods in roughly a century, in which the two protagonists have the same attitude towards each other.

Dramatically, May (Sarah Reynolds) and John (Dane Hurst) dance around each other like lovers; at once with the distance and courtesy of the Belle Epoque, at other times assertive in the chilly public spaces of the contemporary metropolis. Touch is avoided as much as possible, as in dance. A feminine perspective on the possibility of love?

Perhaps as shown in the picture. There are several ways to ‘dance’ on paper. The end result is sufficiently interesting, and less complicated than the addition in the narrative structure suggests. The film viewer also thinks in layers, and does not have to muster the brainpower of a reader to do so.

The fragmentedness of the film – undeniably a product of the 21st century – can be called postmodern. There are plenty of poetic moments, such as the return of the mansion from the past to the present. The provoked look of the strong Reynolds, when she watches a yoga class from the terrace, connects the periods in an indefinable way.

Art is not there to answer, but to raise questions. To this end, the viewer must undergo a temporary journey into their own subconscious. Also in the visually stimulating, but sketchy ‘The Beast in the Jungle’. Art historians sometimes get no further than a ‘je ne sais quoi’. Who is the reviewer to add to that.