Movie Review: Climax

Climax **** / *****

Directed by: Gaspar Noé.

Written by: Gaspar Noé.

Starring: Sofia Boutella (Selva), Romain Guillermic (David), Souheila Yacoub (Lou), Kiddy Smile (Daddy), Claude-Emmanuelle Gajan-Maull (Emmanuelle), Giselle Palmer (Gazelle), Taylor Kastle (Taylor), Thea Carla Schott (Psyche), Sharleen Temple (Ivana), Lea Vlamos (Lea), Alaia Alsafir (Alaya), Kendall Mugler (Rocket), Lakdhar Dridi (Riley), Adrien Sissoko (Omar), Mamadou Bathily (Bats), Alou Sidibé (Alou), Ashley Biscette (Ashley), Mounia Nassangar (Mounia), Tiphanie Au (Sila), Sarah Belala (Sara), Alexandre Moreau (Cyborg), Naab (Naab), Strauss Serpent (Strauss), Vince Galliot Cumant (Tito).

 

When your primary goal as a filmmaker seems to be to shock audiences, you eventually either grow out of it, or become a parody of yourself. Michael Haneke is an example of the former – his later films still can shock, but he’s not trying to shock you for shock’s sake like he was in say Funny Games and his earlier films. Bruno Dumont is an example of the latter – I can no longer tell if he’s being at all serious, or he’s just fucking with us now – daring us to take him seriously, so he can laugh at us (in a way, Lars von Trier has entered this territory as well). Then there is Gaspar Noe – who honestly, I’m not quite sure what to make of. His infamous film Irreversible (2002) of course was told backwards – starting with an extended, very violent murder, then going to show us an even more extender, violent rape sequence that explained the murder, and then went back to show us the couple – the murderer and the rape victim – before either one, when they were happy, their happiness tinged with sadness because we know what they’re about to go through. From there, he went full on virtuoso, but fairly hallow, with Enter the Void – a film whose visuals I will never forget, but I could not tell you what happened in the plot – and then Love, where he decided to use 3-D technology to shot not a porn film per se, but one with real sex. In that one, he forgot to make anything really interesting though – not the characters, or even really the sex. Fewer people seem to be scandalized by his films, because fewer of them are paying attention. But with Climax, he has made what may just be his best film. It’s not complicated film in terms of narrative or theme – but it looks and sound terrific. By Noe standards, Climax is rather tame – meaning it’s still more extreme that practically anything else you will see in a theater this year, but it probably won’t traumatize you. Here Noe seems to be having fun – and it works well for him.

 

The film takes place over one long night, in basically a big, old warehouse. In it, are dozens of members of a French dance troupe about to embark on an American tour. We get to know them – very briefly – with a couple of interview clips with some of the major players in the beginning, before Noe plunges us headlong into an extended dance number – shot, brilliantly, in one long take. The energy and joy of this dance number haunt the rest of the movie in a way – because while there will be more dancing throughout the film, there will be a lot less joy. You see, it becomes clear that someone spiked the sangria with acid, and almost every had some – meaning they’re now all stoned, and getting paranoid and violent. Anyone who didn’t have any becomes the object of suspicions – and those suspicions turn violent. One of the leaders brought their young son with them – and then locked him in an electrical room to protect him – but then lost the key Various other characters retreat to different, private rooms where more hedonistic excesses are going on. The rooms are lit in distinctive colors – greens, blues, reds – and the whole enterprise is flying off the rails at a quicker and quicker pace – leading to a climax which is essentially and orgy of violence and, well, an actual orgy.

 

Part of the problem with some of Noe’s previous films – as much as I admired them – was how seriously they took themselves. Climax doesn’t suffer from that problem at all. In many ways, it kind of feels like Noe having fun – experimenting, and seeing what he can do. The dance sequences in the film are remarkable – and Noe smartly decides to mostly let them all play out in one long take. This is what Stanley Donen or other classic musical directors would do – allowing the dancers to really be the starts of those moments, and not the director (although it takes great skill to do that properly as well).

 

The basic theme is something that has been explored countless time since Lord of the Flies – or in the films of Luis Bunuel, etc. – that society exists under the thin veneer of respectability, and it doesn’t take much for humans to fall back on their baser instincts and descend into chaos. So, not a new theme. But it’s one that fits Noe well, and allows him to make his best film to date – one that embraces his excesses, without making you feel like you need a shower afterwards. Noe has always had skill and ambition – and interestingly, when he dialed back the latter, it really lets the former shine. Climax is an early year highlight.