Nov 13, 2019
Hi everyone!
We’re back with another catchup film from earlier this year, this time another film from French director Claire Denis. Denis’ output has varied over the years, but always with a distinct, thematic perspective. I’ll be talking more about Denis in the review, but for two other films from Denis we’ve reviewed, check out “Trouble Every Day” (Episode #094) which comes with a whole gaggle of trigger warnings and “Let The Sunshine In” (Episode #318), a drama that looks at the life of one middle aged woman in modern France. Both films are excellent.
Before the review, we’ll have a promo from our friend Niall Cooper of the Assassinations Podcast. Every episode, they explore a famous assassination in history, what led up to it, and the fallout afterwards. Don’t miss Niall’s guest review at One Movie Punch for “Plan 9 From Outer Space” (Episode #615), and his attempts to help me with my stupid, stupid mind!
Subscribe to stay current with the latest releases.
Connect with us over social media to continue the conversation.
Here we go!
/////
Today’s movie is “High Life”, the cross-genre science-fiction drama directed by Claire Denis and written for the screen in collaboration with long-time writing partner Jean-Pol Fargeau, with additional collaboration and writing from Geoff Cox, Andrew Litvack, and Nick Laird. The film follows a group of criminals who opt to participate in scientific experiments on a mission to a black hole. The film stars Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, André Benjamin (aka André 3000), and Mia Goth.
No spoilers.
However, definitely some trigger warnings for sexual assault and violence.
Sex is a difficult topic for conversation, one that Claire Denis has been examining in different ways for her entire filmography. Sometimes the topic can be subtle and amusing, as is on display in “Let The Sunshine In”, particularly in dealing with sexual expectations for middle-aged women in modern France, which also starred Juliette Binoche in the lead role. And that’s because sex can be hilarious as a topic, as is often the case in stand-up comedy and the raunchier late-night comedies.
The flip side of sex is that it can also be horrific, as is on visceral display in “Trouble Every Day”, a horror story about sexual desire so powerful in two people that it leads to a bizarre form of sexual cannibalism. As an aside, this film was met with a lot of controversy and outrage for its depictions of sexual assault, but also served as a thematic influence on a later tale of sexual cannibalism, “Raw” (Episode #517). For women in particular, in our global chauvinist culture, sexual assault is a constant, if varying degree of concern among nearly all women, something that most men can never understand.
Sex can also be a lot of other things, however, and Denis explores many of those themes in “High Life”, in particular their relationship to birth and death. The premise of “High Life” is a bit of horrific genius. Convicts, debtors, and the destitute secretly sign away their lives for human experimentation in space, specifically to try to conceive a child on a ship while heading to explore the nearest black hole. It’s also a perfect microcosm of the human experience on our planet, struggling to live in a place that will be consumed by our sun in the next few billion years. It’s especially poignant in a world where more and more are questioning why anyone would bring a child into the world.
It’s just one of the amazing perspective-stretching themes on display throughout the film. Dr. Dibs (Juliette Binoche) manages the experiments on board, exchanging drugs for participation, a not-so-subtle metaphor for both orgasm and transactional sex arrangements. The prisoners help maintain the ship in the meantime, while engaging in the necessary routines to survive in space. The ship is in a state of constant acceleration, moving at 99% of the speed of light, which creates a different experience of time for the passengers, slower than those back home. The weirdest thing is that their reports arrive over a period of hundreds of years back home, even if they only pass a few decades on the ship before reaching their black hole destination, only adding to the absurdity of life in the universe.
The setup is excellent, but the execution involves Denis’ very uncomfortable views of the relationship between sex, life, and death. The passengers have access to a room to individually fulfill their sexual desires, when the constant medication to tame impulses allows, a sort of weird disconnection of sex from birth. We also have two scenes of assault, one between prisoners when one passenger finally breaks, one by the doctor to acquire a specimen in a very uncomfortable scene. Both scenes are difficult to watch, but both also help drive the thematic storytelling, one a reminder that rape is a very serious concern for space travel, and the other a meditation on the responsibilities of parenthood from unwanted pregnancies. And the final few sequences, while maybe unnecessary to the driving plotline, do serve to tie up some thematic ends before a very powerful finale.
Just a bit more praise before we finish up. The set used for the spaceship, and the costumes used by the cast, are a nice juxtaposition of the cold, metallic approach of science, and the messier approach of life and animals, with the garden spilling over metallic floors, and the gradual deterioration of the ship as needed for human survival. Outside the ship, the space visuals are some of the best I’ve seen, including an experimental trip to slingshot around a black hole that blew me away. The score is a combination of ambient soundscapes and space jazz, in the vein of Sun Ra. The cast as a whole is good, with standout performances by Juliette Binoche, who reaffirms her incredible acting skills, and Robert Pattinson, who is continuing his excellent string of independent films and roles before being tied to the upcoming Batman franchise, another expansion of his great range as an actor, and how far he’s come since Edward in the “Twilight” franchise.
“High Life” is a challenging, but fulfilling meditation on sex, life, and death, set in space, which needs all the trigger warnings for sexual assault and sexual violence. Claire Denis brings her unique perspective to a story developed with Jean-Pol Fargeau, combining excellent visuals with a great cast to bring it all to completion. Art-house science fiction fans, or even hard science fiction fans, will definitely enjoy this film, along with Claire Denis fans. Everyone else, please heed the trigger warnings, then strap in for a wild ride.
Rotten Tomatoes: 83% (CERTIFIED FRESH)
Metacritic: 77
One Movie Punch: 9.3/10
“High Life” (2018) is rated R and is currently playing on Amazon Prime.