‘Death is an extraordinary experience...’
Some films are so notorious that they become a byword for disturbing cinema. Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible is one such film. I found it to be so upsetting that I vowed never to watch it again. And I haven’t. What I have now done, however, is watched one of Noe’s other films thinking that it surely couldn’t be as tough a watch as Irreversible was. It turns out I was very, very wrong…
A group of dancers finish their final rehearsal and celebrate with music, drink and more dancing. What they don’t realise is their sangria has been spiked with LSD. From there all hell breaks loose.
Shot in 15 days and mostly improvised, Climax is like wandering into a nightmare from which there is no escape. If I were to make a list of the top ten most disturbing things I’ve ever seen in a film at least half of those things would be from Climax. When the film finally ended (it feels like it goes on for days but in reality, it’s only 97 minutes) I felt that I needed to be sick, have a shower and then openly weep whilst gently rocking myself back and forth.
As a technical achievement, Climax is astonishing. There is a single unbroken 42-minute take in the second half of the film that is unlike anything I have ever seen on screen before. Noe’s constant use of Dutch angles and strobe lighting adds to what is already a nauseating spectacle. Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter’s provides the hypnotic score and this too is designed to be as abrasive as possible.
I’ve no idea how to rate Climax. I hated the experience of watching it but I also can’t deny the film contains a visceral and awful power. It’s going to take me a while to shake this one off. Now, let’s never speak of it again.