Climax

Regardless the various attempts at shock value (with scenes involving self-mutilation and abortion) seem downright desperate.

Just like Possession, this tale of stylized hysteria is an absolute scream.

In the latest goofy provocation from a director who never saw a space-dank dungeon or sunny bedroom-upon which he couldn't unleash a swirly-twirly camera, Noé puts a pansexual, multicultural dance troupe through its paces before sending them to hell.

In "Enter the Void," he used this effect to mirror the experience of a hallucination. But here, it seems the bad boy is running out of tricks, and he's hammering your skull just to prove he can keep doing it.

You just have to figure out if it's a ride you want to take.

Alas, with the notable exception of the empathetic Boutella, the cast of Climax consists primarily of dancers who are not actors.

There is so much potential here, and it's so frustrating that Noé didn't go even further. Apparently, Climax was shot with only a 5 page long script and it shows.

The film documents the dissipation of idealism and the gradual slide into self-annihilation...

Less a film and more an experience (an anxiety-inducing one, at that), Climax is a fascinating and stressful watch.

Noe invites that curiosity with every film, like a giggling schoolboy who has set a whoopie cushion on a chair and can barely contain his laughter as someone approaches to sit.