‘Things are getting weird’ grumbles Vincent Cassel’s Karsh in David Cronenberg’s latest, and he’s not half wrong. The Shrouds is the Canadian auteur’s earnestly intentioned tribute to his late wife (film editor Carolyn Cronenberg who died in 2017), an intellectually curious, boundary-breaking oddity that’s bonkers even by Cronenberg’s own elevated standards.

Following the death of his own wife, a devastated Karsh dedicates himself to honouring her memory, causing a global stir with a complex called The Shrouds which combines a high-tech graveyard with a sophisticated dining space. Karsh has embedded a system called GraveTech into the tombstones, which broadcasts a live feed of each occupant’s decaying corpse to those watching, with his own wife Becca (Diane Kruger) buried in this way. Becca has an identical twin called Terry (Kruger again), a veterinarian/dog groomer, while Guy Pearce appears as the dishevelled Maury, Karsh’s tech guy and Terry’s embittered ex. After dipping his toe back in dating waters, an act of sabotage sends Karsh spiralling, with rivals and environmental groups suspected.

The film’s interrogatory nature is to be applauded; this is evidently Cronenberg getting to grips with loss using the body-horror tools at his disposal. How far and how bizarre he’s willing to go is impressive. He intelligently explores the desperation to possess a loved one (even after their death) and our unhealthy obsession with tech in the film’s engaging early scenes, while some of the eerie imagery is up there with the director’s most interesting work. However, other moments significantly cheapen things, including a clumsily realised virtual assistant. And ultimately, the classy cast struggle to make things work as the conspiracy-theory plot drags on. The Shrouds is admirable but exhausting.

The Shrouds is in cinemas from Friday 4 July.