69
Metascore
37 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100The Film StageGiovanni Marchini CamiaThe Film StageGiovanni Marchini CamiaIt’s all insane and intoxicating, and what’s perhaps most remarkable is that, ultimately, the ugliness and excess is legitimized by being in the service of an elaborate and ecstatically realized celebration of dancing as an art form.
- 100The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyThe Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyPairing his usual boundary-pushing sex-and-drugs fixation with a vital presentation of wildly exuberant dance and movement, Gaspar Noe has made a film that’s seductive in its rhythms and bold visualization of his young dancers’ sometimes beautiful, other times brutal somatic expressiveness.
- 91IndieWireEric KohnIndieWireEric KohnGaspar Noé’s remarkable psychedelic ride is his most focused achievement, a concise package of sizzling dance sequences and jolting developments that play like a slick mashup of the “Step Up” franchise and “Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom,” not to mention the disorienting cinematic trickery of Noé’s own provocative credits.
- 90New York Magazine (Vulture)Emily YoshidaNew York Magazine (Vulture)Emily YoshidaI was shocked to discover that I was actually … touched. Climax is a small miracle, and if this is Noé going soft (for him, of course), that might actually be a very good thing for the movies.
- 80CineVueMartyn ConterioCineVueMartyn ConterioThe film is freaky, experimental, sometimes hilarious and unnervingly intense.
- 80The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawIt is as if Noé has somehow mulched up the quintessence of dance, coke and porn together and squooshed it into his camera. If that sounds horrible, then yes it is, but also, often, demonically inspired.
- 80Screen DailyJonathan RomneyScreen DailyJonathan RomneyYou may emerge from Climax, as from a full-on club night, feeling shattered and asking yourself what was the point of it all. But there’s no denying the mastery of Noé and his team, and the extravagant talent of his cast.
- 80The TelegraphRobbie CollinThe TelegraphRobbie CollinNoé has created a churning, repellent, wildly sexy tanztheaterwerk of pure Boschian decadence and derangement. It’s nice to have him back.
- 75The PlaylistJessica KiangThe PlaylistJessica KiangThis is exhaustingly exhibitionist cinema, that wants to be looked at for the sake of being looked at — for the crispness of its moves, not the complexity of its concepts, and that can get wearying after a while.
- 60VarietyOwen GleibermanVarietyOwen GleibermanClimax works, at least when it’s willing to be a human drama. But then it sinks in that you’re watching “Fame” directed by the Marquis de Sade with a Steadicam.