Director: Claire Denis
Screenplay: Claire Denis and Jean-Pol Fargeau, story by Claire Denis
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, André Benjamin, Mia Goth
Running Time: 110 minutes
Genre: Science-fiction, horror, drama
A group of death-row inmates are sent on an expedition into deep space to attempt to extract energy from a Black Hole. The expedition has been sold to them as an alternative to the death penalty, but in reality they have no way of ever returning to Earth. On the long voyage the prisoners are subjected to a series of medical experiments by the sinister Doctor Dibs (Binoche). As time goes on the tensions between the prisoners, in the close quarters of the increasingly run-down spaceship lead to madness and violence.
This is the first English-language film, and the first science-fiction film from critically acclaimed French director Claire Denis. It has to be said that for anyone looking for sci-fi action-adventure, you will not find it in High Life. Told in a fragmented, non-linear style, this is a slow, meditative film, punctuated by brief bursts of graphic violence, and explicit sex and nudity. The prisoners are kept drugged throughout most of their voyage and speak to each other in slow, hushed tones. The film opens with Robert Pattinson's Monte, who has been condemned for killing his friend over a dog as a child, alone on the spaceship with his baby daughter. The rest of the crew and prisoners are all dead, and the bulk of the film is taken up with flashbacks to how the prisoners met their fates and how Monte came to have a child in outer space, and flashforwards. Pattinson gives an icy performance as Monte, usually calm and introverted, but given to bouts of violence. Juliette Binoche is also memorable as the disturbed and frustrated Doctor Dibs, who uses the other prisoners for sex and experimentation. The film is frequently aching slow and deathly dull, punctuated by genuinely shocking scenes (including scenes of sexual assault), and hauntingly beautiful images. The film is at it's best in the later scenes with Monte and his teenage daughter (played by Jessie Ross), which provide the only touches of warmth and humanity in the film. I did not enjoy this film, I probably won't see it again, and yet there are moments that I think will stay with me for a long time.
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