Climax (Gaspar Noé, 2018) France | Belgium

Reviewed by Kaio Farkouh.

I walked into this movie without watching any trailer at all, just my curiosity to see this new project, directed by Gaspar Noé. He is known from “Irreversible”(2002), “Enter the Void” (2009) and “Love”(2015). The director comes up with another mind-blowing movie, where the director shines the most. With his visual way to tell a story, and with crazy characters and scenes.

“Climax” is about a group of French dancers in a three day rehearsal at this dance school. They are all having a great time, when they decide to party to celebrate. However, all the good time is gone when they find out that someone dropped drug in the sangria bowl.

Gaspar Noé is known by his unique ways to direct with his style, colors, storytelling. Right at the beginning of the movie, there is one scene that I could not believe he pulled it off, without any cuts, the group start a rehearsal and it is amazing! All the colors around, the performance, the diversity of the cast, the song that brings an energetic rhythm. The movie contains a good amount of character and each one of them, has an unique personality that brings diversity to the movie and to the story. Even with all his style just in the begging of the movie, it is later though the movie that the director take us on a bad trip, it feels horrible and scary. He rarely cuts, the cinematography is very precise and we stick with our characters. It seems like we are in a mad house, with the sound, the colors, that goes from green to red to blue and dark.

Even with amazing technical’s aspects, the movie lacks in development of characters. There are a lot of characters that even being different from each other, they lack in development. There are a lot of themes of the movie, that seems pretty vague about sexuality, motherhood, brotherhood. Themes that I never could get much connected with the characters.

“Climax” is a good bad trip, with amazing directing and with Gaspar Noé’s techniques the movie shines in retreat a world with drugs, it is scary at some times to see what people can do when they are on drugs. With small corridors, the song, the cinematography  with different shots and angles, the movie is very impressive on the technical aspects. But it lacks in characters development and I never could create any type of connection with the character.


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