This Trippy Dance Movie Will Ruin Your Night (In the Best Way)

“God is with us!” cries Selva (Sofia Boutella) triumphantly after a successful dance rehearsal in an abandoned school in France. She and the rest of the dance troupe—a diverse collection of contortionists, breakdancers, rhythmic gymnasts, voguers, and a choreographer with her very young son—celebrate their hard work with a punch bowl of sangria. 

Little do they know, they’re in a Gaspar Noé film. The sangria has been spiked with LSD, there’s a snowstorm raging outside, and God is nowhere to be found. 

Climax (2018) is one of my comfort movies, which is strange, considering “comfort” might not be the word most people would use to describe a movie about a group of beautiful young dancers descending into madness. Accusations fly. The little boy is locked in an electrical closet. One dancer urinates on the floor. Another sets her hair on fire. And Boutella reenacts Isabelle Adjani’s iconic birth/miscarriage scene from Possession (1981), pulling wildly at her tights as though she’s trying to remove her skin. 

Perhaps it has something to do with that stunning 5ive-minute single take opening dance sequence set to an instrumental version of “Supernature,” or a soundtrack featuring Soft Cell, Aphex Twin, and Gary Numan. Perhaps it has something to do with its overt nods to Salò (1975), Un Chien Andalou (1929), and Suspiria (1977) (look carefully at the collection of VHS tapes and books in the opening scene!). 

But for every viewer like myself who’s hypnotized, there are a few who come away from it shaken, even if they mostly enjoyed it. One Letterboxd user gave it four and a half stars but still admitted they “kind of hated it.” Another called it “crazy, depressing, gross, [and] aggressive” (complimentary).

And yet, I’d argue Climax is one of Noé’s most accessible films—even Noé was surprised by the film’s “uniformly glowing” reviews. It’s beautiful. There’s a (very) loose whodunnit plot. It’s the perfect movie for when you can’t make it to the club but still want to feel something, anything. 

Climax is now available to stream on HBO Max. If you love it, let me know @ashjenexi on Instagram and X.

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