Climax

French filmmaker Gaspar No�, a director know for his artsy and erotic films, made every effort to assure that his latest venture "Climax," the Art Cinema Award-winner at the Cannes Film Festival, broke the mold. The end credits role at the beginning of the film, the title card appears in the last frames and the opening credits pop-up somewhere in the middle. But these are superficial things. He also shot the film in one location with very little planning, no formal script and almost no rehearsal. Only a few members of the cast are professional actors and one of the scenes takes place in one long, unbroken take that lasts 42 minutes, nearly half of the film's running time.

A group of ambitious, young dancers gather together and rehearse in a remote, snowbound high school building, far from any formal civilization. Afterward they party together and continue to dance. But soon it becomes clear to them that the sangria they have been drinking is drugged, and the terrifying, hallucinatory drug they've consumed brings out the absolute worst in their nature. Soon they find themselves threatening, assaulting and fucking each other, peeing on the dance floor and terrifying small children.

If you can get over the fact that this film is fragmented, nearly plot less and filled with a motley ensemble unsympathetic characters; if you can let yourself get lost in the mesmeric images (shot by No� and cinematographer Beno�t Debie), hypnotic music and spellbinding dancing (choreographed by Nina Mc Neely); if you can let yourself trip into the drug induced dream that takes place on screen (much of the script improvised by the dancers), you may find yourself haunted and even terrified by what you're watching. It's more of an experience than a narrative fiction.

Actress Sofia Boutella ("Hotel Artemis," "The Mummy," "Atomic Blonde") talks about the thrilling experience she had making this unusual film in a featurette called "A Visceral Experience: The Making of 'Climax,'" which certainly give insight into the filmmakers' techniques.

"Climax"
DVD $19.98
a24films.com/films/climax