The Big Picture

The film
Humane
follows a family navigating a climate-change-induced crisis, testing familial bonds amidst a challenging situation.
Director Caitlin Cronenberg found directing dialogue to be a stimulating challenge, shifting from her background in still photography.
The film portrays raw, uncomfortable family dynamics, emphasizing realistic reactions over polished fight scenes, brought to life by a talented ensemble cast.

How would you feel if your parents invited you over for dinner, only to tell you that they’re announcing the imminent implosion of your family unit? Even if you didn’t have the best relationship with them — like in Humane, the horror film hitting theaters on April 26 — it’d be a tough thing to cope with…especially in the middle of the end of the world.

Humane follows a family in crisis, in a world where countries are obligated to cut their population by twenty percent in order to battle the effects of climate change. When the patriarch of the York family (Peter Gallagher) decides to “enlist” and die by the government’s hand in order to do his part, things quickly go south for his children, who find themselves caught in deadly crossfires when a part of the procedure goes wrong.

The film comes from the mind of Caitlin Cronenberg, daughter of — you guessed it — the master of body horror himself, David Cronenberg. (Her brother is Brandom Cronenberg, also known for his horror films like Infinity Pool.) Primarily known for her still photography, she says directing was a “natural progression” in her creative career — Humane is her first feature film — but that working with dialogue was an unexpected challenge:

“I think that a lot of the kinds of photography that I’ve done have included directing and working with actors and doing storytelling and that kind of thing, but nothing really prepares you for dialogue being the most important piece. There’s only so much lighting and set design that we can do before the actors are there and the dialogue is what’s telling the story…So it was challenging but in a fun way. Like in the way that you
want
to be challenged.”

The film, which takes place almost entirely under one roof, gave Cronenberg a chance to flex her muscles, as well as truly bond with her cast, which includes stars Sebastian Chacon and Alanna Bale, as well as Jay Baruchel and Emily Hampshire, who I also spoke with. “I think that there were days when I thought, “Wow, it would be really nice to not be in this foyer again,” she said, “And then at the same time, [we shot] during COVID, everyone was masking, and the idea of keeping it more contained felt doable. There was a lot of camaraderie… all of us kind of being in the house together, and I think that all of that just enhanced the experience. Who knows about next time around, but I enjoyed the process of being in that house together.”

Humane In the wake of an environmental collapse that is forcing humanity to shed 20% of its population, a family dinner erupts into chaos when a father’s plan to enlist in the government’s new euthanasia program goes horribly awry.Director Caitlin Cronenberg Release Date April 26, 2024 Actors Jay Baruchel, Emily Hampshire, Peter Gallagher, Sebastian Chacon

The York Family in ‘Humane’ Fell Right Into Place
Image via IFC Films

Baruchel and Carmichael, meanwhile, had no problem getting into the minds of adult siblings, having worked together numerous times in the past. “I’ve always wanted to play siblings with Jay, especially this kind of sibling,” Carmichael told me, joking that she’s “always wanted to, like, fight him, stab him, hit him, and this was my opportunity.” Baruchel agreed that the two have a “really good shorthand” together and that “just like an old pair of shoes, I just knew we would find it.”

“The real question,” he admitted though, “Was, can we find a way to extend that lived-in feeling and familiarity to the rest of the cast, with whom we don’t necessarily have that bond and that history? We had to find it very quickly, and we’re very fortunate that we had some really wonderful dance partners.”

It certainly seems like the dance turned out well, with the York family fleshed out to the point where the cast felt totally comfortable lunging at each other as the siblings break down, forced to choose who will die in their stepmother’s place. Cronenberg wanted to ensure that the fighting wasn’t “beautiful,” and that the stunt team and the actors made it “awkward and uncomfortable” to emphasize the fact that her characters aren’t trained killers, just desperate, normal people:

“They’re family. It’s not easy. Even if you have a hard relationship with your family, you’re not just able to suddenly stab them. So the hesitancy and the idea that these people, they’re not fighters, this isn’t a
John Wick
movie, they don’t have this ability to know what they’re doing with weapons. So, that was something that we led with, to say, “No, no. Don’t make it perfect. Make it awkward. Trip. Do this, do that.” And everybody just totally nailed it.”

Caitlin Cronenberg Also Had Her Real Family at Her Back
Image via IFC Films

She said that her father and brother are, naturally, massively supportive of her work, and served as a vital sounding board for ideas and stress as she worked on Humane. “They were excited to see me take this next step,” she told me. “We had lots of chats about how things were going, but at the same time, it was very much my own sort of first foot in the door fantasy kind of thing. So, as much as I have learned from them in the past, I also felt that they were saying, “Alright, you know what you gotta do. Just go off and do it, and we’re here if you need us,” which is one of the best kinds of support.”

As for the film’s subject matter, she concedes that the climate change parallels are very much intentional, but that the similarities to the real-life debate around assisted suicide — something I picked up on almost immediately — weren’t intentional. She doesn’t mind them being made, however:

“It’s one of those freak things where two people make movies about dueling magicians in the same year, and two people make
Armageddon
-type movie movies in the same year. I think it’s just something that’s at the forefront of people’s minds now because we are having more open conversations about death, and I think it’s this generation who are more open to discussing what that looks like. Previous generations have been a bit more locked up about speaking about death, in general. It is really interesting to have been reading a lot of articles about medically assisted suicide during this time, and even people I know have family members who have had elected suicides during the time that we’ve been in post on this film, but it is really interesting to see the way that the world is shifting in that direction.”

Humane premieres in theaters on April 26.