High Life

Far from Earth, in the dark depths of space, a spaceship has been drifting for many years. On board live only two people: Monte (Robert Pattinson) and his daughter Willow (Jessie Ross). In the complete loneliness, their routine daily routine is determined by the constant struggle for survival. The two are the sole survivors of an expedition that sent a group of condemned criminals into space in search of vital energy resources. Literally a suicide mission. But what happened to the other crew members? And is there even a chance for Monte and Willow - especially as their spaceship drifts inexorably towards a black hole?

With High Life, French filmmaker Claire Denis presents her first English-language project. The premise sounds intriguing, the ensemble cast is compelling, and the imagery is truly mesmerizing in some scenes. But unfortunately, the film doesn't really have much more to offer. Sure, there's a lot that can be interpreted into the very leisurely told events consisting of loosely connected scenes. But even though there are some intriguing philosophical approaches to be discerned, the utterly cerebral production is altogether too unwieldy and too detached to make the good ideas even entertaining to any degree.

Oh no, I said the U-word. Of course, for sophisticated arthouse cinema, that doesn't work at all. Intelligent, enigmatic and entertaining - an absolute no-go! Yes, there are actually some people who are all too happy to call themselves cinephiles who see it exactly that way. That someone who simply wants to be well entertained at the cinema also appreciates cinematic art is something these cinephiles - who I certainly don't want to deny a love of film here - don't want to believe. But I can assure all doubters: In the many years I've worked as a film critic, I've seen plenty of works that have done a great job of being clever and entertaining. The upside is that they reach a lot more viewers with their stories than films like High Life, which will only open up to a small niche audience.

This may sound pejorative, but it's meant differently. Because I think it's just a shame when inherently exciting material and artistically interesting imagery is rendered almost unenjoyable by overambitious staging. That's exactly what happened here. High Life is neither exciting nor thrilling, not grippingly staged, but simply tough and boring. Beautiful to look at and well acted - but also completely emotionally undercooled. If you like sophisticated sci-fi cinema and don't care much about building an emotional connection to the characters and their stories, you might find something in this work that eluded me. Therefore, there is from me only one: Conditionally worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp