Climax Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

Climax Blu-ray Movie Review

This is your dance film on drugs.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 16, 2019

In case you’ve been hiding under a rock lately (and considering some of the daily news cycles these days, frankly I wouldn’t blame you), you may not know it’s the 50th anniversary of Woodstock (the event, not the film culled from it). In the detritus of the now abandoned 50th anniversary concert, there have nonetheless been a number of rather interesting retrospectives offered across a wide range of media, including a nice if potentially contentious list that Billboard assembled of the 100 Best Songs of 1969. Perched kind of in the middle of the list at 67 is “Spinning Wheel” from Blood, Sweat and Tears’ sophomore album, a disc that many fans at the time assumed was the group’s premiere offering, since the first Al Kooper formulation of the band didn’t explode the way that this particular aggregation did. But there was another track (actually tracks ) on that album that introduced many a Baby Boomer to the kind of weird delights of French composer Erik Satie, with the album beginning and ending with bookending snippets from Satie’s Trois Gymnopédies. Satie’s major seventh infused Gymnopédie No. 1 is on hand again in the opening moments of Gaspar Noé’s Climax, albeit in a synth laden version which is appropriately on the hallucinogenic side, given the fact that the film deals with a bunch of dancers who may have partaken of a little LSD spiked punch at an after rehearsal party, and that the imagery accompanying Satie's music (or vice versa) is of a seemingly bloody person kind of desperately attempting to make snow angels. Anyone who has seen any of Noé’s other films, probably most saliently Enter the Void, may have a (dancer’s?) leg up on the uninitiated who may have an unabashed “WTF?” reaction to the film.

Climax begins with what seems to be a series of audition videos for some noted choreographer, an initially disembodied voice whose presence may remind musical theater fans of the original conception behind A Chorus Line. That allows for quick if not particularly elucidating introductions for a bevy of characters, though Selva (Sofia Boutella) turns out to be both the choreographer heard in the opening as well as the focus of much of the ensuing plot dynamics.

In a large warehouse like facility a group of dancers has assembled for a rehearsal and party, but things go haywire in any number of ways when it turns out the party punch has been liberally spiked with LSD. Climax has a through line of sorts, but it’s intentionally disjunctive, often darting off on its own “trips”, while also attempting to offer vignettes featuring typically pairs of characters, while also also stopping at various junctures for insane dance routines. Fans of Noé will probably love his stylistic flourishes, while those not acquainted with his work may wonder if there’s any substance behind that style.

Climax Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Climax is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.38:1. This is another release in Lionsgate's nascent but burgeoning foray into BD-R territory. As can probably be gleaned from many of the screenshots accompanying this review, Climax wallows in reds, yellows and (not so coincidentally) oranges, and that regimen of hues along with what is some pretty drastic "grittification" of digitally captured imagery can mean this is a somewhat fuzzy, indistinct looking presentation at times. Contrast also fluctuates a bit a times, tending to give a kind of milky, hazy overlay to several scenes. All of that said, the film does offer nice levels of detail in its many close-ups. There is such non-stop activity in the film, both dancing and otherwise, that it was frankly difficult to even get a sole screenshot without some kind of motion blur, but that anomaly of single frame capture shouldn't worry any potential consumers, as the film looks fine in motion. As can be seen in a couple of screenshots accompanying this review, there are brief interstitial titles and/or logos that just kind of pop up at random at various points.

Climax Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Climax features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix ostensibly in French, though English creeps into the proceedings at a number of junctures. This release seems to have two sets of subtitles, for those who keep track of such things: there's one set that is forced, and which translates a lot of the on screen French into English, but there are additional optional English subtitles that seem to be mostly for SDH type additions as well as some off screen voices. All of this said, the film has pretty much non-stop music thumping through the background, with source cues that can be quite forceful and immersive at times. Dialogue is generally rendered cleanly and clearly, though can occasionally be slightly masked by the sheer cacophony of the room where everything takes place.

Climax Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• A Visceral Experience: Making Climax (1080p; 9:16) is for all intents and purposes an interview with Sofia Boutella, who talks about the rehearsal and filming process.

Climax Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Climax begins with the odd "combo platter" of synth laden Satie and a perhaps mortally wounded individual making a snow angel, and then it segues cheekily right to its closing credits, before "starting over" and getting the actual story underway. Even that brief summary of the film's opening couple of minutes should suffice to at least hint at the weirdness Noé offers here. I'm frankly not sure if this makes even one whit of sense, but Climax is visually and aurally alluring and may in fact cause inadvertent flashbacks for those who lived through the sixties but, per the maxim about that decade, having really been there don't remember a thing. Noé fans will almost certainly like this odd film, and while this is another in Lionsgate's expanding set of BD-R releases, technical merits are generally strong.