French director Bertrand Bonello is rightly back in the imaginations of U.S. cinephiles, as his new film “The Beast” is now playing stateside. The time-hopping sci-fi romantic drama starring Léa Seydoux and George MacKay as would-be lovers across centuries had the biggest opening weekend yet for distributor Sideshow/Janus Films earlier this month. Now, Bertrand Bonello‘s previously undistributed 2022 film “Coma” is finally joining “The Beast” at theaters beginning in May from Film Movement. Watch the trailer for “Coma,” an IndieWire exclusive, below.
Combining live-action and animation, “Coma” centers on a teenage girl in lockdown amid a global health crisis (cough cough) who develops a disturbing relationship with a YouTuber. The cast features Louise Labèque, Julia Faure, Gaspard Ulliel, Laetitia Casta, Vincent Lacoste, Louis Garrel, and Anaïs Demoustier. This was the last film Ulliel worked on before he died in January 2022 after a skiing accident. Ulliel was meant to star in “The Beast” as well but was replaced by George MacKay; that film remains dedicated to the late French actor.
Bonello shot “Coma” on the hush-hush in under two weeks in late 2021, inspired by his own teenage daughter and her relationship to the internet. “Coma” is meant as the concluding chapter in a trilogy of films on youth, including his acclaimed dramas “Nocturama” (2016) and “Zombi Child” (2019).
Here’s the official synopsis for “Coma”:
Amidst a period of unprecedented world events, an 18-year-old girl’s life is placed on hold. Isolated in her bedroom, she falls under the spell of the mysterious vlogger Patricia Coma. As time carries on, the lines between her dreams, fears, hopes, and reality begin to blur into one another. From French master Bertrand Bonello (“The Beast,” “Zombi Child,” “Nocturama”), “Coma” is “a neo-Lynchian slow burn masterpiece” (International Cinephile Society) that creates a dream-like representation of our present. A “delirious marvel” (The Playlist) that breaks apart boundaries of genre, filmmaking, and storytelling, “Coma” bravely confronts the anxieties of today in order to imagine the possibilities of the future.
Film Movement opens “Coma” in New York City at The Roxy on May 17, with additional markets to follow. Here’s the exclusive trailer.
