Matilda Lutz, Suzanne Clément Star in Nicolas Bary’s ‘Increase’

Nicolas Bary (“Trouble at Timpetill”) is gearing up for his next feature, “Increase,” an English-language futuristic thriller starring an international cast led by Matilda Lutz (“Revenge”), Suzanne Clément (“Mommy”), Holt McCallany (“Mindhunter”) and Fernanda Urrejola (“Cry Macho”).

Set to shoot in Canada in 2027, the film stars Lutz as Genie, a professional runner whose life is shattered by an unwanted pregnancy and later transformed by a catastrophic accident that leaves her without both legs. Fitted with technologically advanced prosthetics connected directly to the brain, Genie not only learns to walk again but surpasses the limits of human performance as a Paralympic athlete. As she takes the world by storm, suspicions emerge over whether her amputation was really accidental — or a deliberate choice.

The screenplay was written by Sheila Erdmann, Mary Noelle Dana and Bary. The film blends psychological thriller elements with transhumanist themes and body horror influences. “I wanted to explore the pursuit of human performance pushed to the extreme — how a passionate athlete can see that passion evolve into obsession,” Bary told Variety in an interview.

The filmmaker said the idea for the project emerged from anxieties surrounding modern technology and humanity’s increasing dependence on digital tools and artificial intelligence. “We had been entrusting our sense of direction to GPS, our memory to the Cloud, our daydreaming to Instagram,” Bary said. “While the promise was to save time and yield contentment, we are losing touch with an essential part of what makes us human: acknowledging our limits and imperfections.”

Bary said the project was partly inspired by conversations with French Paralympic champion Marie-Amélie Le Fur, who serves as consultant and technical advisor on the film. Le Fur, who lost a leg in a motorcycle accident as a teenager before becoming one of France’s most decorated Paralympians, once imagined removing her remaining leg in order to maximize the efficiency of her prosthetics, according to Bary.

“The dream of freeing oneself from the flesh and thereby overcoming suffering, sickness and death is at the core of transhumanist ideology,” Bary said. “By refusing to recognize our own fragility, we are no longer connected to our ability to feel.”

Bary also cited influences ranging from “Gattaca” to the body horror cinema of David Cronenberg, as well as emotionally driven thrillers like “Black Swan” and “I, Tonya.”

“Visually, there’s definitely something Cronenbergian in the film — this fascination with the body, transformation and the idea of becoming something hybrid,” Bary said previously. In his director’s statement, he added that the film’s present-day sequences will be “cold, clear-cut and clinical,” while flashbacks depicting Genie’s childhood and early passion for running will feel “warmer, freer and more tender.”

Amélie Melkonian serves as executive producer on the project, which is co-produced by Caramel Films’ Valérie d’Auteuil in Canada and Kwassa Films’ Annabella Nezri in Belgium. Axel Cosnefroy is attached as cinematographer, while Nicolas Tescari will compose the score.