Climax Releaseparty | English subtitled
Inspired by real-life events, the latest from controversial director Gaspar Noé (Love, Irréversible) depicts the malevolent madness that envelops a dance troupe’s post-rehearsal party after a punchbowl of sangria is spiked with LSD.
Gaspar Noé has accrued a reputation over the years for shocking violence and explicit sexuality that typically incites audiences to race for the exits in abject, pearl-clutching horror. However, the Cannes crowds and critics were enthusiastically rapt during the bow of his latest and most exhilarating provocation.
Set in 1996, the film follows an ensemble of dancers meeting in an isolated building to rehearse for three days. On the last night they throw a wild party – they unwind to the beat of techno and drink sangria to oblivion. As each dancer’s psyche begins to disintegrate, a creeping paranoia gives rise to deep-seated prejudices within the group that eventually explode into outright pandemonium against an infectious and hypnotic parade of period-appropriate needle-drops from the likes of Aphex Twin, Patrick Hernandez, Soft Cell and M/A/R/R/S.