Climax. (18.)
Directed by Gasper Noe
Starring Sofia Boutella, Romain Guillermic, Souheila Yacoub, Kiddy Smile, Claude Gajan Maull, Giselle Palmer. Out on Blu-ray and DVD from Arrow Video, February 11th. 96 mins.
The devil has all the best tunes, and the misanthropes have all the best tracking shots. Gasper Noe is a man for whom the glass isn't just half empty, it's spiked. Climax is another tale of misery, destruction and despair but made with such exuberance, such style, such Joie de grief, that it is more uplifting than a thousand heavenly choirs. Or it would if you could drown out all the women and children screaming in the second half.
But I have said too much already. Watching Climax, being gently led down these dark, but colourfully lit paths, I felt a strong urge not to write a review of it because you should just try to go into this cold, with no preconceptions. You can avoid plot spoilers but all information is spoiler really and it would be such a joy to roll in and see this film with no idea where it was going. Of course, you presume it's heading somewhere bad but the subtlety in which the situation shifts, the way we are eased from euphoria to psychosis, is very intoxicating.
If you've seen and responded to any of Noe's films than you don't need any recommendation. This is more of what he does so well, but done a little bit better.
If you haven't, but have a desire to see something different, something bold, something that is real movie making, stop reading and just go and get this.
Still here? The plot observes a few horror/ thriller basics. (In his interview in the extras, the director also compares it to disaster movies like the Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno that he loved as a kid.) It's a group of people, seemingly without a care in the world, a dance collective on the verge of a US tour, holed up in a remote location. Unfortunately, someone has done something that is going to ruin the celebrations, so it is a whodunnit. But Noe's not a man you'd associate with Agatha Christie, so there is the added tension of the willwefindoutwhodunnit.
Noe's cinema is a peculiar mix of the subtle and the blunt. As in his other films, he inserts title cards with messages like Death Is A Unique Opportunity or Life Is A Fleeting Pleasure. And he again plays around with his credit sequences. So the film opens with the closing scene: a bloodied woman in thin clothing collapsing in some snow. But it then runs the closing credits. Which is a little bit annoying as it includes the entire soundtrack listing in chronological order. so at the end of the film I knew that the instrumental version of the Stones' Angie was coming.
He also refuses to follow polite dramatic formula. To introduce audiences to his characters he just shows us their audition tapes where they simply tell us what they are like, saving us loads of dialogue scenes and getting around the fact that the cast are predominantly dancers rather than actors. Mostly the characters express themselves through movement and dance.
It does what films always fail to do when they take place in a single location – it defines the space. It always bugs me in spaceship or haunted house films that they rarely show us the layout of the confined space. Noe does, and does it beautifully. After the preliminaries, the film begins with a dance routine shot in one take. The camera starts off as a stationary observer, but towards the end it cautiously moves towards the dancers and interacts with them. As if growing in confidence, after the routine has finished it starts to weave around the participants revealing the rest of the room, rather than just the wall behind the dancers. As the film goes on the camera becomes more and more and confident, swirling around, turning upside down, looking up from the floor or peering down from above. This kind of fluid, unbroken camera work is so appealing because it seems honest and thorough. Most films scurry us along, the editing whipping us from one scene to another, creating a reality that seems partial and jerry-built in comparison. There's no such cheating in Climax.
I said that this was a film that I particularly didn't want to spoil, that I would have liked to have gone to see free of any expectations. When it first screened at Cannes people went in knowing nothing about it other than the title and the director. That would've been quite something because just knowing the director and the title must've have heightened the tension to unbearable levels: really, anything was possible. The surprise perhaps is that the film, though gruelling and hideously intense, is mild by Noe standards. As you'd expect from the title it is very, very sexy but unerectedly so. His previous film opened with a cum shot but nobody gets their knob out in this one. (If you crave something a little more fruity Alexandra Heller-Nicholas's half-hour video essay in the extras makes a point of including the all most graphic scenes from his previous work.) It's a celebration of dance and youth, but youth as few people really know. I was never this young; I was just less old.
I think Noe's critical reputation suffers because his films deal in big and basic themes, big and basic themes which he then spells out. Climax is about how brief and precious happiness is, that society is a very thin construction and the inevitability of a hangover. Tradition dictates that The Big Themes are approached with sobriety and subtlety, the last things Noe will bring to them. But if you can tackle them head-on with this level of casual virtuosity than you have something that is easily as vibrant and worthwhile as classical artistry.
For over two decades Noe's been a noisy child trying to get our attention. He's got it now and showing all the signs of being one of the best filmmakers around.
Extras.
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
5.1 DTS-HD MA Audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio commentary with writer-director Gaspar Noé
An Antidote to the Void – a brand new interview with Gaspar Noé
Performing Climax – newly-produced featurette comprising interviews with actors Kiddy Smile, Romain Guillermic and Souhelia Yacoub
Disco Infernal: The Sounds of Climax – Alan Jones, author of Saturday Night Forever: The Story of Disco and Discomania, offers up a track-by-track appreciation of the Climax soundtrack
Shaman of the Screen: The Films of Gaspar Noé – a brand new video essay by writer Alexandra Heller-Nicholas looking as Gaspar Noé's evolution as a filmmaker
Trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring two artwork options
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Anton Bitel alongside the original press kit
Directed by Gasper Noe
Starring Sofia Boutella, Romain Guillermic, Souheila Yacoub, Kiddy Smile, Claude Gajan Maull, Giselle Palmer. Out on Blu-ray and DVD from Arrow Video, February 11th. 96 mins.
The devil has all the best tunes, and the misanthropes have all the best tracking shots. Gasper Noe is a man for whom the glass isn't just half empty, it's spiked. Climax is another tale of misery, destruction and despair but made with such exuberance, such style, such Joie de grief, that it is more uplifting than a thousand heavenly choirs. Or it would if you could drown out all the women and children screaming in the second half.
But I have said too much already. Watching Climax, being gently led down these dark, but colourfully lit paths, I felt a strong urge not to write a review of it because you should just try to go into this cold, with no preconceptions. You can avoid plot spoilers but all information is spoiler really and it would be such a joy to roll in and see this film with no idea where it was going. Of course, you presume it's heading somewhere bad but the subtlety in which the situation shifts, the way we are eased from euphoria to psychosis, is very intoxicating.
If you've seen and responded to any of Noe's films than you don't need any recommendation. This is more of what he does so well, but done a little bit better.
If you haven't, but have a desire to see something different, something bold, something that is real movie making, stop reading and just go and get this.
Still here? The plot observes a few horror/ thriller basics. (In his interview in the extras, the director also compares it to disaster movies like the Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno that he loved as a kid.) It's a group of people, seemingly without a care in the world, a dance collective on the verge of a US tour, holed up in a remote location. Unfortunately, someone has done something that is going to ruin the celebrations, so it is a whodunnit. But Noe's not a man you'd associate with Agatha Christie, so there is the added tension of the willwefindoutwhodunnit.
Noe's cinema is a peculiar mix of the subtle and the blunt. As in his other films, he inserts title cards with messages like Death Is A Unique Opportunity or Life Is A Fleeting Pleasure. And he again plays around with his credit sequences. So the film opens with the closing scene: a bloodied woman in thin clothing collapsing in some snow. But it then runs the closing credits. Which is a little bit annoying as it includes the entire soundtrack listing in chronological order. so at the end of the film I knew that the instrumental version of the Stones' Angie was coming.
He also refuses to follow polite dramatic formula. To introduce audiences to his characters he just shows us their audition tapes where they simply tell us what they are like, saving us loads of dialogue scenes and getting around the fact that the cast are predominantly dancers rather than actors. Mostly the characters express themselves through movement and dance.
It does what films always fail to do when they take place in a single location – it defines the space. It always bugs me in spaceship or haunted house films that they rarely show us the layout of the confined space. Noe does, and does it beautifully. After the preliminaries, the film begins with a dance routine shot in one take. The camera starts off as a stationary observer, but towards the end it cautiously moves towards the dancers and interacts with them. As if growing in confidence, after the routine has finished it starts to weave around the participants revealing the rest of the room, rather than just the wall behind the dancers. As the film goes on the camera becomes more and more and confident, swirling around, turning upside down, looking up from the floor or peering down from above. This kind of fluid, unbroken camera work is so appealing because it seems honest and thorough. Most films scurry us along, the editing whipping us from one scene to another, creating a reality that seems partial and jerry-built in comparison. There's no such cheating in Climax.
I said that this was a film that I particularly didn't want to spoil, that I would have liked to have gone to see free of any expectations. When it first screened at Cannes people went in knowing nothing about it other than the title and the director. That would've been quite something because just knowing the director and the title must've have heightened the tension to unbearable levels: really, anything was possible. The surprise perhaps is that the film, though gruelling and hideously intense, is mild by Noe standards. As you'd expect from the title it is very, very sexy but unerectedly so. His previous film opened with a cum shot but nobody gets their knob out in this one. (If you crave something a little more fruity Alexandra Heller-Nicholas's half-hour video essay in the extras makes a point of including the all most graphic scenes from his previous work.) It's a celebration of dance and youth, but youth as few people really know. I was never this young; I was just less old.
I think Noe's critical reputation suffers because his films deal in big and basic themes, big and basic themes which he then spells out. Climax is about how brief and precious happiness is, that society is a very thin construction and the inevitability of a hangover. Tradition dictates that The Big Themes are approached with sobriety and subtlety, the last things Noe will bring to them. But if you can tackle them head-on with this level of casual virtuosity than you have something that is easily as vibrant and worthwhile as classical artistry.
For over two decades Noe's been a noisy child trying to get our attention. He's got it now and showing all the signs of being one of the best filmmakers around.
Extras.
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
5.1 DTS-HD MA Audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio commentary with writer-director Gaspar Noé
An Antidote to the Void – a brand new interview with Gaspar Noé
Performing Climax – newly-produced featurette comprising interviews with actors Kiddy Smile, Romain Guillermic and Souhelia Yacoub
Disco Infernal: The Sounds of Climax – Alan Jones, author of Saturday Night Forever: The Story of Disco and Discomania, offers up a track-by-track appreciation of the Climax soundtrack
Shaman of the Screen: The Films of Gaspar Noé – a brand new video essay by writer Alexandra Heller-Nicholas looking as Gaspar Noé's evolution as a filmmaker
Trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring two artwork options
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Anton Bitel alongside the original press kit
