An LSD-fulled nightmare of dances, violence, delusions, betrayal and desire by the one and only Gaspar Noé. The dance sequences are quite stunning to watch while the descent into chaos and madness makes the movie a bold, striking and nightmarish trip into hell that you cannot unsee.
It's called Climax because it's a mind fuck, but I'm not sure you'll be glad you came.
It begins with the end scene and closing credits of a fake thriller as a sign to the audience that the traditional movie is over and we're about to go beyond the boundaries of normal film structure.
After a couple of dance sequences and party small talk centered on sex, drugs and a lot more sex (with passing references to children/parenting), the end credits appear in the middle of the film. Following them is the 2nd experience of the two-fer, where things get very dark very quickly.
The 'Dancing with the Scars' half is like a drug trip I couldn't get on board with so there was no way for me to get off -- I ended up just staring at the ceiling and wondering if it was going to be finished soon.
Love it or hate it, this film is technically astonishing and whatever it's trying to do, it's doing it very well. It's almost like they've trapped the true essence of French Extremism, set it on fire, and followed it with a steady cam.
The camera work in this is surreal and its movements, along with the actors' choreography, are surprisingly well coordinated for a "write-as-we-go" film.
Climax will make you feel a lot of things and I don't think you're going to like how most of those things feel, but that's exactly what makes Climax a very well executed horrifying experience.
This was a total waste of time. A pretentious descent into nothing a viewer might care about. Requiem for a Director’s Career
The high they feel definitely doesnt translate to the viewer. I'm familiar with Noe's films, but this was less of a film and more of just an along for the hellish ride as some cope terribly with the drug while others were preparing for it. Sure it goes twisted and dark, but I've got no connection to any character or care what happens to any of them either. They're all just kind of equally awful people. Meh. One and done.
Had to turn it off halfway through and it was a struggle to even get that far. Empty violence with no purpose. I can appreciate violent movies that have something to say, but this director loves reveling in things for the hell of it and it makes me nauseous. Technically masterful and extremely well-acted, no doubt, but listening to endless minutes of men talking about anally-raping women with no lube, children dying, pregnant women being beaten into miscarriage, incestual rape, all because of LSD (a drug that rarely if ever makes people violent)? No thanks.
For me, you can compare it to a movie like Raw or Mother! to see how you can do something shocking that has a point. Something that's not just capitalizing on horrible things that actually happen to people to shock and traumatize the audience. I literally saw someone complain that this movie was too tame, that there should have been a scene of child rape to really be true to the director's style...this is the kind of message the director sends with his work.
Chaotic, depressing, gross. Climax figures between the worst experiences I've had in life and my top 10 favorite movies.
Visceral, chaotic, disturbing, nauseous, terrifying, colourful, outrageous, brilliant. Noe seems to shock and delight and equal measure. There are very long drawn out takes, amazingly choreographed dance scenes, hellish and horrifying images, a pulsating soundtrack but it all gets cooked into to a completely immersive piece of masterful cinema.
The narrative is not straightforward, and seems to focus on a comment on modern French society / diaspora but also shows a take on the paradise > purgatory > hell tale that mainly revolves around sex. In that respect it's definitely for the audience to make up there own mind what Noe wants to tell us. There are alot of things placed backwards in this film. Maybe Noe is trying to tell us we're not living our lives correctly.
It's a must see for any fan of Noe or art house. What an experience.
It took me four years to get around to this and now that I have, one of the most nightmarish LSD trips to ever curse the screen. I mean, FUCKING HELL!
The best way to describe and recommend it is from Gaspar Noé himself when he said, "the first part of Climax is like a roller coaster, the second like a ghost train."
There are some AMAZING shots in it for sure. The over head dance sequences are nothing shout of stellar!
France keeps trashing the world.
Finally, the climax to the High School Musical series. This is a toe-tapping, joyous celebration of life that is sure to get you dancing along with these crazy kids... except of course, it isn't. The only similarity with HSM is the descent into cinematic hell that the viewer is plunged into, only this time it's intentional, and not such a vapid strain on the viewer. Hard to watch but the dancing is good, and you can't fault the cast and director's efforts here, even if you do feel as if you need a good shower afterward to wash away the mental grime.
The first 45 minutes are absolute garbage, then things started happening but I was already bored, so the whole experience was awful. I think this would work better as a short movie, 30 minutes max.
Well that was... unpleasant? Certainly not where I expected the party to go.
Who drugged my sangria? Entertaining in a slapstick kind of way once the chaos explodes, but you will have to bear for the first 45 minutes until the drugs finally take effect. I doubt this was really meant to be an anti-drug advert, it’s all so over the top that it felt more like a disengaged dark comedy, and I mean it as a compliment.
A disgusting, morally reprehensible work of insane genius
Climax, the latest film from Argentinian-French provocateur Gaspar Noé, is a disturbing, depraved, disgusting, and debauched piece of absolute insane genius that I thoroughly adored from beginning to end, and which I never, ever, want to see again.
Lord of the Flies (1954) by way of Heronimus Bosch or Zdzisław Beksiński, Climax is what you might get if you mashed-up Pier Paolo Pasolini's Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma (1975), Darren Aronofsky's mother! (2017), and Anne Fletcher's Step Up (2006); a dance movie that morphs into a horror film, which then attempts to show the audience a literal hell on Earth. If you've seen any of director Gaspar Noé's previous four films, you'll know that his reputation for excess and pushing both his characters and his audiences to the extreme is well earned, and with Climax, he takes that audience and those characters further than ever before. Granted, there's nothing here to rival Le Boucher's sickening attack on his pregnant wife from Seul contre tous, or the near-unwatchable rape or fire extinguisher scenes from Irréversible. However, whereas those films feature sudden moments of barbaric violence punctuating (relatively) quotidian narratives, in Climax, the oppressive feeling of dread is unrelenting, affording the audience not even a moment to drop their guard, as not only is there a possibility that something horrific might be around the corner, chances are something definitely is; once everything kicks off, there is simply no reprieve. So even though the acts of violence are not, in themselves, as extreme as some of those in Noé's back-catalogue, the cumulative effect is far worse. Obviously, this makes the film something of an endurance test, even at only 96 minutes, but this is precisely the point – Noé wants the audience to be utterly exhausted by the end, and he employs numerous confrontational and disorientating techniques to achieve such. Disney this most definitely is not.
For my complete review, please visit: https://boxd.it/wVCZD
WOW, this was a very impressive cinematic experience. As a fan of the old Step Up films, the dance sequences alone where exhilarating and fun to watch, but the unique cinematography and masterful camerawork is what truly sets this one apart from others in the genre.
I don't think any movie has done the continuous-shot gimmick as flawlessly as this. The dramatic performances that are expertly interwoven throughout the movie had me on the edge of my seat, and I’m shocked that the casting director was able to find people who were not only terrific dancers but terrific actors too. The same can't be said for the Step Up films.
Also, the use of colour and music in this film cannot be understated. Despite taking place in one small building, the director and cinematographer make every room feel like a new world with creepy, dream-like atmospheres that the characters are able to exude, making for an epic yet claustrophobic journey. The only reason I don’t give this a 5/5 is because the plot itself, while unique, is not interesting, and there where no major events that stood out.
literally electrifying, the most crazy movie I saw and liked
think of a strong LSD, see ?!
We get it Gaspar Noé, you are obsessed with sex.
The party ends up really falling apart, crazy.
Definitivamente me quedo con la frase "Vivir es una imposibilidad colectiva". Si le ponen mala calificación es por pura venganza.
Shout by sp1tiVIP OG 13BlockedParent2018-07-10T11:10:43Z
You have to admire Noé for the way he just fucks with conventions as he pleases and stages lengthy camera rides just for the fun of it. The film sets up a huge cast of dancers pulling off some crazy vogue shit and lets them slowly but surely decend into a feverish hell. I was not without doubts while watching this( and he does let his bad boy hang out) but I ended up just enjoy the hypnotic ride. It's definitly nothing substantial but a big step up from "LOVE".