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Climax
2018 97 min France, Belgium, United States of America R 18+
★6.9
Thriller, Drama, Horror, Music
Director: Gaspar Noé
Trailers
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Teaser
Teaser
EN
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EN
Description
When a dance troupe is lured to an empty school, a bowl of drug-laced sangria causes their jubilant rehearsal to descend into a dark and explosive nightmare as they try to survive the night—and find who's responsible—before it's too late.
Budget:
$2.9M
US Gross:
$817,339
Worldwide:
$1.7M
Starring
Sofia Boutella
Actor
Romain Guillermic
Actor
Souheila Yacoub
Actor
Awards
Cannes Film Festival 2018
— C.I.C.A.E. Award
Key opinion
Climax is widely regarded as a visceral, technically masterful, and polarizing experience that eschews traditional narrative in favor of a hypnotic, sensory descent into chaos. While critics and audiences laud its kinetic cinematography and hypnotic choreography, opinions diverge on whether the film offers meaningful philosophical insight or remains a hollow, repetitive exercise in shock and provocation.
| Cinematography | Benoît Debie’s kinetic, roaming cinematography acts as a central character, masterfully immersing the viewer in the dancers' drug-fueled psychological disintegration. | |
| Originality | The film is anchored by highly effective, committed dance sequences that shift from structured professional choreography to primal, chaotic movement. | |
| Theme | The experience of the film is deeply divisive; some find it a profound, visceral exploration of human animal nature, while others view it as a repetitive, adolescent-minded exercise in shock. | |
| Screenplay | The lack of a traditional, structured plot is a point of contention; supporters praise the hypnotic focus on sensory atmosphere, while detractors find the narrative aimless and the characters unsympathetic. | |
| Pacing | The relentless, nightmarish escalation of tone is highly effective for some, but others find the constant, extreme intensity and lack of reprieve to be exhausting or unnecessarily nihilistic. |