Climax

Gaspar Noe scratches wax beneath le drapeau tricolore on the set of Climax

Liberty, equality and fraternity become the objects of religious zeal only to destroy freedom, justice and fellowship. Their earthly reality is precisely Nothing, and the spirit of nihilism blows through them with a force that is all the more mysterious in that we the worshippers provide it.
"Man's Second Disobedience: A Vindication of Burke" -- Roger Scruton RIP

Gaspar Noe's Climax is among his more successful efforts, certainly a bounce back from the listless Love. The film is largely limited to one set, an abandoned school where a dance troupe is holding a rave in 1996. After a prologue and an opening dance number, Noe offers a series of two shots as a way of introducing his cast and their travails. Someone spikes the sangria with acid and events, as they usually do in Noe's films, turn ugly. This leads to Noe engaging in some self indulgently transgressive moments: a pregnant woman is kicked in the stomach followed by a character's hair catching fire, at which point I wanted to yell at the screen, "Gaspar, you don't know when to say No(e)."

However, the film is always a pleasure to watch and listen to. Nina McNeely's choreography gives the flick a shot of joie de vivre usually absent from the dour Noe's work. He is certainly in his zone illustrating the effects of LSD. Climax captures the agony and ecstasy of acid: where one can grasp eternity in a moment, but also where one is too blotto to negotiate a flight of stairs. In all its zonked out glory, Climax is a landmark of the new psychedelic cinema. Only Mandy is at its elevated level.

The meaning of Climax is another thing entirely. The presence of the tricolor behind the DJ stand seems to indicate that it is an allegory about the new, multicultural France. Peut-etre.  That an abstemious Muslim is first blamed for spiking the punch seems to indicate a lack of fraternity and equality among French youth. Noe illustrates that the liberty they have is both a blessing and a curse. Meaning seems a bit beyond him, but Climax is such a riot of sensation, both good and bad, that the viewer can grok it as pure cinema.