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Climax is a French psychological horror film that premiered in 2018 at the Cannes Film Festival. Directed by Argentine-French filmmaker Gaspar Noé, known for his avant-garde and experimental cinema, the movie was released in the United States in March 2019. The plot revolves around a dance troupe composed of young dancers who gather in an isolated school building in the snow-covered French countryside for a final rehearsal before embarking on a tour in the United States. The dancers come from different cultural backgrounds and are united by their passion for contemporary dance. The group is led by Selva (Sofia Boutella), a charismatic and enigmatic choreographer, who has a complicated love affair with one of the male dancers, David (Romain Guillermic). However, the rehearsal quickly turns into a chaotic and nightmarish experience after someone spikes the sangria with LSD, causing the dancers to spiral into a collective hallucinogenic trip that leads to violence, paranoia, and mental breakdowns.

The movie's narrative style is characterized by long takes, handheld camera movements, and an erratic editing rhythm that mirrors the characters' disorientation and confusion. The movie's soundtrack features an eclectic mix of music genres, including electronic, hip-hop, and classical, and is juxtaposed with the dancers' frenzied movements and facial expressions.

The movie's themes explore the concept of collective hysteria, the fine line between art and madness, and the power dynamics within a group. The characters' personalities are gradually unmasked, revealing their hidden desires and fears, and their descent into chaotic behavior is punctuated by surreal and grotesque images that blur the boundaries between reality and fantasy.

Sofia Boutella's performance as Selva is one of the movie's highlights, as she embodies a complex and contradictory character that oscillates between seductive and repellent, nurturing and abusive, creative and destructive. Her dance sequences are mesmerizing, as she combines athleticism, sensuality, and expressivity into a seamless performance that encapsulates the movie's themes.

The movie's cinematography, by Benoît Debie, is visually stunning, as it captures the fluidity and intensity of the dancers' movements and the kaleidoscopic hallucinations that envelop them. The lighting design, by Sarah Levitt, also adds to the movie's trippy atmosphere, as strobe lights, neon colors, and shadows create a hypnotic and disorienting effect.

Climax has received both critical acclaim and controversy since its release. While some critics have praised its innovative storytelling and bold visual style, others have criticized it for its gratuitous violence, misogyny, and voyeurism. The movie's shocking and visceral scenes, including a graphic abortion, a self-mutilation, and a sexual assault, have sparked debates about the ethics of depicting such acts in art and whether they serve a purpose beyond shock value.

Overall, Climax is a movie that is not for the faint of heart, as it challenges its viewers to confront the darkest aspects of human nature and exposes the fragile and volatile nature of group dynamics. It is a movie that blurs the line between art and horror, between beauty and ugliness, and between reality and nightmare.

Climax is a 2019 horror movie with a runtime of 1 hour and 35 minutes. It has received mostly positive reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 6.9 and a MetaScore of 67.