High Life Review

French writer/director Claire Denis’ new film High Life opens with a baby sitting in a room of a spaceship brimming with greenery and vegetation. Denis takes the two words of her title very seriously, propelling the struggle of production and survival into unknown realms of the galaxy. High Life displays many thematic choices throughout its run time, but it doesn’t take long for Denis’ unconventional storytelling to make many of them a challenging process to fully grasp. Creating an enticing and visually striking film with a narrative that is as vast and weightless as its cosmic setting.

Denis, now in her seventies, is still as graceful behind the camera as ever, creating smooth and arresting visuals that are lit beautifully by cinematographer Yorick Le Saux. Yet, High Life becomes a confounding film, floating between themes of exploration, existence, isolation, imprisonment and parenthood that are all bound in a vulgar eroticism. Although Denis presents these in ways that are ambitious and captivating, many result in a more pretentious outcome. Never fulfilling its own ideas enough to be fully rewarding.

High Life follows Monte and his daughter, the last survivors of a spaceship headed towards a black hole with the purpose of harnessing its energy for Earth. Through a series of non linear flash backs, the motives and fates of the rest of the crew are uncovered, revealing a much darker series of events.

High Life is far from incompetent, there is a brevity in Denis writing that will surely reward multiple viewings for those who can endure the films often ominous pacing. Robert Pattinson and Juliette Binoche give fantastic performances that help elevate the sense of hopelessness and dread throughout the films plot.

However, High Life contains strong narratives that don’t feel fully ventured, instead giving way for strange and often ill-fitting visual symbolism that make many scenes feel bloated and ostentatious. Poor sound mixing also plagues the film, many lines of dialogue are lost in the whispers and groans of each character, making much of the already vague narrative even harder to follow and understand.

High Life is strange mixture of arthouse horror and sci-fi that at times feels isolating and uncomfortable. But it’s strange story, partnered with the way that Denis has chosen to tell it will leave many feeling confused or conflicted.

The smooth directing and arresting visuals of High Life cannot hold up the films loose and scattered narrative.

Produced By: A24
Runtime: 110 minutes
Rating: R