Climax

Eine Party, die so ausgeartet ist, hatten wir noch nicht. Ein geniales Musical-Intro in einer Aufnahme, ein wenig Gelaber, damit man die Figuren kennenlernt und los geht’s. Eine unerwünscht zusammengemischte Sangria kann zaubern. Ein geiles, spannendes Trip-Erlebnis, das von Noés Filmografie am meisten Enter the Void ähnelt. Jetzt aber in wenigen Räumen und in einem Korridor. Tanzen und Toben, eine kollektive Paranoia, halluzinogene Verrücktheit. Spannend und ab und zu grauenhaft. Was den Sex und die Gewalt betrifft, da hielt sich Noé noch ziemlich zurück. Vier Sterne in einer Festival-Atmosphäre (d. h. mit konstantem Appetit auf innovative Sachen). Sonst ist es ein in seine Form verliebter Unsinn ohne Inhalt und mit einer vermeintlichen philosophischen Dimension wie der Großteil seiner Werke. [Cannes] (16.05.2018)

Engaging provocation by Noé which to a great extent tests the endurance and patience of the viewer. I’m not sure I would want to watch it at home on the PC, but in the main theatre of Hotel Thermal, at the KVIFF, thumbs up. Already at the beginning, when Noé serves the closing scene and the opening credits of the film that is about to follow, it is clear that this is not something that plays strictly by the rules. The dancing number at the beginning is brilliant. The following garrulous passage lost me, but then Climax got me back once the Sangría with LSD started to hit. The last half hour is a stress test for the senses of the viewer; a descent into utter darkness and a state of altered consciousness that made my head spin. The experience, in the strict sense of the word, is pleasant, but heavy. (15.08.2018)

Aggressive, provocative, controversial and boundary-pushing, Gaspar Noe delivers his best work and it is once again an original, fresh and uncomfortably steamy spectacle. The film is even based on a true story, about thirty dancers finishing their American tour and intending to celebrate properly, but the evening goes awry when LSD is mixed into the Sangria and unfortunately not everyone makes it to the morning. This dance horror drug musical is one of a kind and compelling enough to keep you interested, though it's good to know the director's previous work beforehand so you have an idea of what you're getting into. The opening dance number is absolutely breathtaking and enthralling and the witty sex references suited me just fine, but once the party gets underway in full swing the hallucinogenic trippy ride begins, with everyone involved experiencing a nightmare you wouldn’t believe. There are a couple of uncomfortable scenes, though the violence is slightly skimped on, but it makes up for it with solid music, dance numbers, very racy girls, sex scenes and original cinematography with a filter at the end albeit too chaotic for some. Sofia Boutella rocks again and since I first saw her in Kingsman she has only surprised and shocked! Solid for me. 80%. (03.02.2019)

Gaspar Noé dances an extremely dirty dance, and with his help, this manages to entrance and fascinate you for quite some time. And yet during the excessively stretched-out dialogue, a feeling arose that someone was stretching me out. And that was before the anticipated barrage of purposeless violence and annoying antics accompanied by the spinning of the camera was even on the program, and the fact that the stubborn director refused to move from one spot even a little bit after so many years almost made me laugh. And I had already lost my patience with works presented to the clever audience long ago. (31.10.2018)

Many people I know love this film, so I apologise to them beforehand. I suffered. A totally empty camera exhibtion that if it wasn’t for the titles nobody would have a clue as to what it is supposed to be about. The staging must have been hard, there’s no doubt about that, but that’s pretty much all I can praise. If you played only the soundtrack to someone, they would sue you for personal injuries, and this is the very aggressive and shallow way Noe tries to achieve the depression and exhaustion of the audience, also in purely visual terms. And I don’t see anything praise-worthy about that, because other than fuck-all, the only thing I can take from this is that Boutella has wonderful shape and movements and that in the next party I will drink my beer from MY own glass. I’m afraid that this is my first and also last film by Noé. (27.02.2019)

Der beste Tanzfilm seit Dirty Dancing! Unglaubliche Aufnahmen. Die Kamera kreist um die Charaktere herum, macht lange Fahrten, Purzelbäume, Saltos, kriecht kopfüber und schaut vertikal nach unten - manchmal dreht sich einem davon der Kopf. Noé macht sich spielerisch über den Zuschauer lustig, sei es durch den Abspann, der überhaupt nicht am Ende ist, oder durch die Cuts - in einem Moment zeigt er wirklich lange Szenen in einer Aufnahme, um dann kontrastierend eine Sequenz von Szenen mit vielen offensichtlichen und aggressiven Cuts zu zeigen. Die Struktur dieses Films ist einfach absolut polymorph und entzieht sich vollständig den etablierten Konventionen. Und es schafft definitiv, den Zuschauer zu fesseln, zu amüsieren, zu verabscheuen, zu beunruhigen und zu erschrecken - sicherlich alles, was Noé beabsichtigt hat. (07.07.2018)

Das Anschauen von Gaspar Noés Filmen ist wie das Entdecken neuer Formen der Kommunikation. Die Eröffnungstanzszene ist eine hypnotische Perfektion und reine Ekstase, alles andere dreht sich vor allem darum, wie weit Sie bereit sind zu gehen und wie viel Zuschauervermögen Sie haben. Eine grandiose Kamera-Show und epileptische Choreografie begleitet von Techno auf einem Trip, oder anders gesagt: Noé weiß, wie man Sangria perfekt zubereitet. Er hat seine häufigsten Markenzeichen gesammelt, sie auf eine Tanzparty verteilt und gezielt eine halluzinogene Apokalypse ohne Handlung, aber mit maximaler Wirkung erschaffen. Eine wilde und raue experimentelle Fahrt, unglaublich progressiv und zugleich narzisstisch in sich selbst versunken, aber was kann man auch anderes von Noé erwarten. (07.07.2018)

Almost every other better film critic has outlined a quick, more or less modest parallel between Bosch's depiction of Hell from the triptych "The Garden of Earthly Delights" and the second part of Noé's film, i.e., the "horror" part. It would be a mistake, as every other critic does, to separate the first part (before things go wrong) and the second part of the film, just as it is impossible to separate the parts of the triptych. Here, we can rely on the idea that was expressed in Jean Eustache's film about Bosch's Hell: "I really feel that it is in the third painting, in the description of Hell, where Bosch finally lets himself go. He lets himself be carried away by the description of pleasure, senseless and complete. This pleasure is so complete that even its consciousness is not present." If the relationship between painful pleasure and the attractiveness of terror is only a conscious contradiction, while at the level of the unconscious, it is the desired goal of the death urge, towards which we willingly walk with joyful tears of horror immediately after LSD disables our social inhibitors, it is a possibility that Noé does not precisely examine - he only shows it. That is his classic position for me: a mixture of shallowness and a desire for depth. Fortunately, we already know that contradictions are not mutually exclusive, but collide with each other, so it is not possible to give up on Noé's work for such reasons, just as Bosch also had a troubled relationship with perspective and, therefore, with the depth of the field; criticizing Noé for shallowness would be nothing more than bourgeois attachment to the conscious sphere of film. (28.02.2021)

Dirty Dancing meets Trainspotting in ultra-hardcore mode. I'm convinced that Gaspar Noé is not entirely normal; that said, in the vast majority of cases, it's rather to the benefit of the cause, because films this intense simply aren’t made every day. Actually, Climax starts quite unobtrusively and for a long time gives the impression of a visually appealing "party movie", of course with the exception of the last approx. 40 minutes. From a certain point on it becomes such a mess that I couldn't help but shake my head and allow my strong negative emotions to flow towards all the characters. It's definitely not a date movie or an otherwise similarly oriented romantic evening, but the experience is intense and evocative. And the predatory, neurotic, and slightly epileptic directorial style still amuses me a lot. (22.06.2019)

I must admit that there are some excellent dance moves here and I like the theme music too. However, as the plot progressed, I was getting more and more anxious for this rather perverse party to end. I'm definitely not watching this one again. (55%) (27.02.2022)