“Death is an extraordinary experience.”

A woman shrieking in pain marches through a thick blanket of snow in search for help. Nothing in the sight, she wanders alone. She crawls before falling down on her back whimpering. She swiftly moves her arms before vigorously swinging them like a fallen angel begging for aid. The scene shot through a bird-eye-view gives an impression as if God is the witness to the bloody madness. She bleeds from the cut on her arms and rests in a fetal position clasping herself in the bed of snow as the scene cut to the end credits.

‘CLIMAX’ WAS SCREENED AT THE 20TH JIO MAMI MUMBAI FILM FESTIVAL WITH STAR.  CLICK HERE FOR OUR COMPLETE MAMI COVERAGE.

Cinematography: Benoît Debie.             Editing: Denis Bedlow and Gaspar Noé.           Executive Producers: Eddy Moretti and Danny Gabai.             Producers: Edouard Weil, Vincent Maraval and Brahim Chioua.Production Companies: Rectangle Productions and Wild Bunch.      Production Design by Jean Rabasse.   Costume Design by Frédéric Cambier.             Sound assistant: Matthieu Autin.Music: Pascal Mayer and Noodles.      International Sales: Wild Bunch.      Publicist: A24.   Sound: Ken Yasumoto.       Music Department: Steve Bouyer and Pascal Mayer.          Editorial Department:   Alexander Akoka, Marc Boucrot, Clara Sansarricq, Julien Soudet and Théo Madar.

 “Birth is a unique opportunity.”

At the succinct running length of 96 minutes, Gaspar Noé’s Climax is the cinematic experience of the year that provocatively dazzles with raucous energy. It’s a wild celebration of debauchery. It is an orgy of music and dance; a pulsate hammering to the senses. Noe seduces us into the world of a trippy, disorientating experience through heart-pounding sounds, groovy music and the barrage of disconcerting visuals, that subsequently descend into a mayhem and chaos. Noe alternates between a frantic bad trip and the sinister human drama under the influence of drugs. It’s everything you expect from Noe’s film and some more.

“God is with us.”

The cinematic alchemist and arch-provocateur, Gaspar Noe takes us on a psychedelic ride of a bad trip in this maddening cocktail of dance and music, gorgeous and grotesque, and life and death. Gaspar Noe’s films have been about the experiences that are nightmarish and horrendous we wish never to go through in real life, so he makes sure we experience it through his cinema. Be it the social nihilist The Butcher’s grim view of life in ‘I Stand Alone’, the unwatchable and gruesome rape scene of Alex in ‘Irréversible’, or the wildly original ‘‘Enter The Void’ that takes you on psychedelic drug experiences during an ‘out-of-body’ state. ‘Climax’ is no different.

Director
Gaspar Noé

Screenplay
Gaspar Noé.

Cast

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ʇuǝdɹǝS ssnɐɹʇS
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ɐןɐןǝq ɥɐɹɐS
n∀ ǝıuɐɥdı⊥
ɹɐƃuɐssɐN ɐıunoW
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ɹǝןƃnW ןןɐpuǝʞ
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soɯɐןΛ ɐǝ˥
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ʇʇoɥɔS ɐןɹɐϽ ɐǝɥ⊥
ǝןʇsɐʞ ɹoןʎɐ⊥
ɹǝɯןɐԀ ǝןןǝsıƃ
ןןnɐW uɐɾɐƃ ǝpnɐןϽ
ǝןıɯS ʎppıʞ
qnoɔɐʎ ɐןıǝɥnoS
ɔıɯɹǝןןınƃ uıɐɯoᴚ
ɐןןǝʇnoq ɐıɟoS

Soundtrack 1. Gary Numan – Trois Gymnopedies 2. Chris Carter – Solidit 3. Cerrone – Supernature 4. Patrick Hernandez – Born To Be Alive 5. M|A|R|R|S – Pump Up the Volume 6.  Lil Louis – French Kiss 7. Dopplereffekt – Superior Race 8. Dopplereffekt – Technic 1200 9.  Thomas Bangalter – What To Do 10. Neon – Voices 11.  Suburban Knights – The Art of Stalking 12.  Daft Punk – Rollin’ & Scratchin’ 13. Aphex Twin – Windowlicker 14.  Wild Planet – Electron 15. Soft Cell – Tainted Love 16. Soft Cell – Where Did Our Love Go 17. Giorgio Moroder – Utopia Me Giorgio 18. The Rolling Stones – Angie 19.  Cosey Fanni Tutti & Coh – Mad

“Birth and death are extraordinary experiences. Life is a fleeting pleasure.”

‘Climax’ is Divine Comedy in reverse. It opens with the only choreographed single shot dance sequence that shows dancers’ art in their full glory. Even though it is choreographed, it looks improvised, imprecise and raw – it is not a criticism – as it is just a rehearsal dance, which is a highly stylized ‘Vogue Fem’ dance. They move with the viscosity of the fluid, flex like there is no bone, and drink like there is no tomorrow. The conversation between the troupe members is informal, sexually aggressive, sexists and racist.

Strong and astonishing visuals blend with pulsating techno music that forms a character (Paradiso). The character that doesn’t let go off even when, midway, things spiral out of control and descend to physical violence (Inferno). It examines the behaviour of the humans at their worst as everything falls apart, dancers scream in the void, a girl is beaten up, another one’s hair is put on fire, it unleashes complete havoc.

Recommended Read: The House that Jack Built [2018]: Astonishing Examination of Evil

There is barely a plot. It might disappoint those who are not familiar with Gaspar Noe’s body of work and those who seek a plot. Nevertheless, the experience is so enthralling that you could feel the part of the ongoing commotion and looking for a moment to catch a breath. He keeps the narrative straightforward and effortless, bolsters with the frenetic energy, improvised banters that makes the dynamic between the characters a lot more believable and real, he does it all without any exaggeration.  The experience is jolting and visceral that brings vicarious pleasure to have lived in the hell where Satan dances to the tune of master Gaspar Noe.

★★★★