Co-written and directed by Claire Denis, High Life premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival with strong, positive reviews. The movie is about a group of young people who space travel through a black hole because they are prisoners.
The story unfolds beyond the solar system with the criminals who accepting the mission in space to become the subjects of a human reproduction experiment. They find themselves in the most unimaginable situation after a storm of cosmic rays hit the ship.
It dawns on them they are not returning or it appears so. Very little freedom is available as they wait out their sentence. Despetion and experiments are doled out as the criminals come to terms on how to brutally rebel against the system.
Monte, played by Robert Pattinson, views life as a prisoner differently because he has a baby daughter. He needs to be responsible even though something is looming just out of reach.
A narcissistic jailkeeper, played by Juliette Binoche, brings the emotions to the surface as the prisoners are compelled to respond to her underhanded control.
The cinematography, shared by both Yorick Le Saux and Tomasz Naumiuk, received praises for capturing the space, stars, and nebulae. Denis is a French director, whose style is admired by her peers. “It is important to show how people are feeling, even when they are brutal.”
Jean-Pol Fargeau contributed to the screenplay and worked with Denis in other movies such as 35 Shots of Rum and Beau Travail. Geoff Cox also contributed but it is the first he’s worked with Denis and Fargeau with one other writing credit.
The movie nabbed some nominations and won three awards including Indiewire Critics’ Poll Best Films Opening in 2019.