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He doesn鈥檛 want his graveyard-set creation, born out of the grief he experienced over the 2017 loss of his wife, Carolyn, to be seen as personal catharsis or closure.

鈥淚鈥檝e never thought of art as therapy,鈥� said Cronenberg, 81.

鈥淓ven in this moment where you might think it could be, it isn鈥檛. Making the movie doesn鈥檛 lessen the grief. And that doesn鈥檛 surprise me 鈥� I didn鈥檛 expect that it would.鈥�

He was speaking in an interview during the Cannes Film Festival in May, where 鈥淭he Shrouds鈥� had its world premiere in competition for the Palme d鈥橭r. (Sean Baker鈥檚 鈥淎nora,鈥� also at TIFF, ultimately won the prize.)

Cronenberg鈥檚 point is taken, although 鈥淭he Shrouds鈥� features a snowy-haired and smartly attired protagonist named Karsh, played by Vincent Cassel and looking a lot like a younger David Cronenberg.

Karsh has built a high-tech graveyard, called the Shrouds at GraveTech, that allows him to observe the decomposition of his beloved late wife Becca (Diane Kruger).

This couldn鈥檛 possibly be just another movie to Cronenberg, although it strikes many of the same notes of sci-fi prophecy and body horror as such previous films of his as 鈥淐rimes of the Future,鈥� 鈥淰ideodrome鈥� and 鈥淩abid.鈥�

What did he anticipate going into it?

鈥淚 thought that it would induce me to investigate some aspects of a relationship and of death and of burial,鈥� Cronenberg said. 鈥淎ll those things, I was thinking of them anyway, but this forced me to give it a dramatic shape. Beyond that, the creative act is its own reward, you know? It feels good, no matter what the subject matter. It feels satisfying.

“It鈥檚 a perversion of art, I guess.鈥濃��

The writer-director was speaking on a hotel terrace overlooking the Boulevard de la Croisette, the waterfront promenade where he鈥檚 mobbed by fans whenever he goes for a stroll. Cronenberg is well known in Cannes: 鈥淭he Shrouds鈥� was his seventh film to compete for the Palme, the most by any Canadian in the fest鈥檚 77-year history.

It was a sunny day for the interview and Cronenberg was smiling, even though he was dressed all in black and the topic was quite literally funereal.

Accurately described by Kruger as Cronenberg鈥檚 鈥渕ost personal film鈥� in his long career, 鈥淭he Shrouds鈥� is also arguably his best. It intimately explores the director鈥檚 fascination with corporeal horror, advanced science and high paranoia in ways that genuinely touch the heart 鈥� and prompt the occasional wry chuckle, with some of the gallows humour that often arises in Cronenberg movies.

Cassel鈥檚 Karsh, an inventor and entrepreneur so focused on his work he fails to realize how gruesome he appears to others, takes a date to lunch at the restaurant adjoining his wired cemetery. He shows her how mourners can treat death like a YouTube channel, watching their loved ones slowly disintegrate via a graveside screen or handy smartphone app.

鈥淗ow dark are you willing to go?鈥� Karsh asks his date (Jennifer Dale), who quickly heads for the exit when she realizes he isn鈥檛 kidding.

鈥淪he鈥檚 the audience surrogate,鈥� Cronenberg said, acknowledging that many viewers will find the subject matter, which a character in the film refers to 鈥渃orpse voyeurism,鈥� grim.

The writer-director joked about aging and mortality at last weekend鈥檚 TIFF Tribute Awards, as he accepted the TIFF Norman Jewison Career Achievement Award, named for his friend and fellow filmmaker, who died earlier this year.

鈥淚鈥檓 as old as Joe Biden!鈥� Cronenberg cracked, as he received the prize from actor Viggo Mortensen, the filmmaker’s sometime leading man and a close friend. (For his part, Mortensen chided Hollywood denizens in the audience for having never yet given Cronenberg an Oscar.)

Despite the film’s moments of levity, Cronenberg鈥檚 grief over the death of his wife of nearly 40 years permeates every frame of 鈥淭he Shrouds.鈥� Through its genuine and sorrowful expression of mourning, the film seems a kind of tribute to Carolyn, albeit one that only her husband could have created.鈥�

鈥淚t absolutely is,鈥� Cronenberg said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think I would have made this movie under other circumstances. If she was still alive, I鈥檇 be doing something quite different.鈥濃��

Kruger said she was honoured to play a character inspired by Cronenberg鈥檚 intense love for his late wife.

The German actor felt 鈥渋nvited into his intimacy,鈥� in a complicated role that required considerable nudity and ghostly appearances where limbs and a breast are missing, the result of illness and amputation.

鈥淓ven when you see me in death, there鈥檚 something strangely beautiful about it,鈥� said Kruger, in a separate interview on the same sunny terrace.

鈥淲eirdly, in this film, I didn鈥檛 even find it to be like body horror, because it involves illness, right?” she said. “It didn鈥檛 feel like I was making a gory kind of thing, because I was still anchored in reality.鈥�

Cassel also spoke of the unique experience of working on a Cronenberg movie, his third (he previously co-starred with Mortensen in 鈥淎 Dangerous Method鈥� and 鈥淓astern Promises鈥�).

鈥淚t鈥檚 never painful working with David,鈥� the French actor said.

鈥淗e鈥檚 always very calm and very gentle. And actually, that’s maybe one thing I’ve tried to pick up from him, that gentle way of speaking.

鈥淚 told him at the end of this shoot, 鈥業 really appreciate and admire the elegance with which you handle your environment.鈥� He has a word for everybody and it鈥檚 real and genuine.鈥�

Cassel smiled as he considered how much his character in 鈥淭he Shrouds鈥� looks like Cronenberg. It鈥檚 obvious to him, although Cronenberg insisted the resemblance isn鈥檛 that strong.

鈥淰incent really doesn鈥檛 look like me,鈥� he said. 鈥淗is head is shaved right now. If he had come to me that way, I still would have cast him. I never cast him because of his hair, you know.鈥�

The director paused, and continued with a smile.

鈥淏ut weirdly enough, out of the corner of your eye, we look somewhat similar. I think he was watching me, but (Karsh) is his own invention.鈥�

Cronenberg similarly attaches scant importance to how Karsh also speaks like him: succinctly, calmly and authoritatively.

鈥淚鈥檓 not thinking outside the film and what works in the film, and I don鈥檛 assume that anybody who sees it is going to know anything about me personally,鈥� Cronenberg said.

鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 give me any moral credibility that some of these lines of dialogue might have been spoken by me in real life. That doesn鈥檛 help make the movie good, necessarily.鈥澛�

鈥淭he Shrouds鈥� was supposed to be a Netflix series. But when the streamer backed out, Cronenberg opted to make a standalone feature. It doesn鈥檛 have the ending he鈥檇 envisioned for the series, or even one that can be fully explained.

鈥淚 never had a problem with open-ended films,” he said, “and I鈥檝e never really felt that the craft demanded that the end of a film tie everything up and explain everything.

鈥淭hat is never my understanding of art in the first place. So the fact that this (film) should have a sense that it could continue on is just good, legitimate, dramatic structure.鈥�

With Cronenberg, no good idea ever dies, even one situated six feet under.

The Shrouds screens at TIFF on Sept. 11 and 12. Go to for details.