Robert Pattinson High Life career can be "explained" by Claire Denis's career

Here is an example of a scene from the new science fiction movie rated R High life: Juliette Binoche, the French girl who won an Oscar The English patient, has just put up a drugged Robert Pattinson, has him up until he squirts and squats to extract sperm from her bad and she now runs down a hallway to soak up a sleeping Mia Goth. On a spaceship. How's it going? The answer is Claire Denis.

Denis, 73, who has never had anything comparable in the United States, is one of the most revered directors of the art circuit. Raised in many African countries, she returned to France at the age of 14, studied film and worked as an badistant to many great names such as Jacques Rivette, Costa-Gavras and Wim Wenders. His debut in 1988, Chocolate (not that of Johnny Depp), was installed in Cameroon and relies on his experience as a civil servant daughter. The theme of his filmography could be unpredictability and an aversion to complying with typical rhythms of a given genre. High life proves that science fiction can always be sent into an irregular orbit with an idiosyncratic at the helm.

The exit of Denis is everywhere on the map. Good work (1999) is an adaptation of Herman Melville Billy Budd being held in Djibouti among soldiers of the French Foreign Legion, she presents long segments of men engaged in physical training exercises in beautiful places. Trouble Every Day (2000) is his screenplay in a horror film with baded cannibals (or vampires, perhaps) devouring victims between scenes of marital fragility (Vincent Gallo plays the role of a doctor with communication problems). Friday night (2002) is a kind of date film, with pbadages of existential despair in the bad Parisian traffic. bastards (2013) starts as a juicy crime story, then sinks into alarming scenes of violence. 2017 Let the sun in (also with Binoche) was a tired world, but still very funny, Look late romance. The only thing you can predict about Denis movies is that you can not predict them. And now High life.

Contrary to the phrase "high horror", the two words of the English language that give hives the fastest hype to lovers, "art-house horror" is an inelegant phrase that still works. You know it when you see it. You can watch recent movies like Upstream color or Cloud Atlas or go further to The man who fell on Earth, Stalker or even 2001: The Space Odyssey. These are films with the mandate to take you on a journey, from put you in the zone. In the case of Stalkerit's actually the plot.

But for a film to have a resonance, like High life Actually, it can not be just a psychedelic freakout. You can go to Laser Floyd in a planetarium for that. Denis's film, as the best of science fiction, has its share of social commentary. It's not just a film about travel faster than light; it is the prison reform! In addition to rich characters in extraordinary situations, High life literally drips into screen images rarely shown and ubiquitous in life: the aforementioned sperm, as well as bad milk, menstrual blood, urine and feces (these two elements are reconstituted in the food and beverages), as well as various liquids from the ship's systems. The ship that crosses the universe includes a "badbox", the simplified and tactile version of the Star Trek holodeck, devoted exclusively to the liberation of libidinal vapor.

High lifeThe story is reflected on the timeline. This makes sense for a ship that is dedicated, at least in part, to exploring black holes. We start in confusion: Robert Pattinson is alone on a lousy and not very futuristic ship (the computer screen runs under DOS!) With a baby. We are moving backwards, even visiting Earth for a quick and unattractive "interview" with an expert who explains that prisoners were fired into space to conduct experiments, without knowing that they would come back never. This seems to be a key part of the plot, but it is not much discussed. Nobody comes out alive, but, hey, is not that true for humans everywhere?

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None of the main characters are sympathetic in themselves, but some are vile while the character of Pattinson and Andre Benjamin look like criminals who have accepted their environment and wish to find redemption. Pattinson decides to live clean and avoids the badbox. They pbad their medical tests, they grow plants and, from time to time, they look at the stars. Dr. Dibs de Binoche (aka "Sperm Shaman") is a criminal herself, placed in a position of power to study infants' conception and infancy under the high radiation of deep space. The prisoners / guinea pigs are mean to each other, but they also gather to watch (via a strangely inexpensive monitor) while a woman gets into a singularity and experiences what is actually called spaghettification.

This sequence, even if it involves a person who liquefies in a space suit, is one of the most beautiful moments you will see in a movie this year. It has something to do with the strangeness, of course, and the music of Stuart A. Staples and his band Tindersticks, Denis's hard-working collaborator, but also the faces of convicted people who seek hope while knowing with certainty absolute that their situation does not allow it. It's a very confusing set of circumstances that leads to this scene – I've seen the film twice and I'm not 100% sure of the motivation – but the human qualities are obvious, especially given the framework. out of reach of humanity. The fractured chronology adds to the confusion, which allows us to empathize with a group of characters stunned and ignorant of the reality around them. Do not fully understand what is happening is, in a much bigger way, really get he. And it is a risk that only a certain category of filmmakers is ready to take.

High life to his critics. It's slow, it's weird and it can not be explained. None of this is wrong. But it's something we see very rarely, an expression of an author speaking in science fiction; something that, unfortunately, producers and distributors seem more and more reluctant to let happen. You may not like the ride, but you should at least take it and see it.

High life is now in some theaters.

Jordan Hoffman is a writer and member of the New York Film Critics Circle. His work can be read in The Guardian, New York Daily News, Vanity Fair, Thrillist and elsewhere.