Filmmaker David Cronenberg has described his new movie, The Shrouds, as his most personal work, inspired by the death of his wife from cancer in 2017. The film follows Karsh, a man who lost his wife Rebecca four years earlier, played by Vincent Cassel and Diane Kruger.
The Shrouds is about watching one’s loved one decompose, which may sound morbid, but the film also has an amusingly dark side to it. Karsh uses a company called GraveTech to monitor the remains of his dead wife through high-tech metal shrouds equipped with scanners that allow him to watch her body decompose at any time.
The movie delves into the themes of grief and desire, exploring how technology can both assuage and exacerbate these feelings. Cronenberg’s film is not just a horror movie about decaying bodies but also a thriller filled with techno-paranoia. The Shrouds never fully coheres as a mystery, instead leaving room for questions and uncertainty.
Through Karsh’s obsessive use of GraveTech, the film highlights how technology can alter our minds and even bodies. This theme is reminiscent of Cronenberg’s earlier work, such as Videodrome, which explored the idea of what TV does to us. The Shrouds takes this concept further, set in a world where people have largely fused with their phones.
Ultimately, The Shrouds is a movie about life and how technology influences our experiences. It is a complex exploration of grief, desire, and human connection in the digital age, one that leaves more questions than answers.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2025/04/25/nx-s1-5374377/the-shrouds-review-david-cronenberg