It's time to move away from comedy and "art" and dive into some sci-fi/horror with Claire Denis's 2018 film: HIGH LIFE
Who thought putting criminals in space would be a great idea? I mean, if everyone was kind and everything was successful, would it make a great story? Who can tell but that's the basis of the Claire Denis film HIGH LIFE.
Starring Robert Pattison, Mia Goth, Juliette Binoche, André "3000" Benjamin, and Ewan Mitchell, we follow a doomed space mission to a Black Hole and the obvious antics that ensue from locking a bunch of criminals on a spaceship and expecting them to produce offspring. What could go wrong?
There's a bunch of fluids being slung around this vessel in scenes wetter than those in ALIEN where Harry Dean Stanton takes a shower in the cargo hold with his clothes on and every other scene where the Xenomorph shows up and it's drooling everywhere.
HIGH LIFE is considered a sci-fi horror as well just so you know. That's why I mention it.
Laura: Well, hello there. Welcome to On the BiTTE, the podcast that uncovers full frontal male nudity in cinema. My name is Laura, and I am joined by my. My shipmate, Ryan.
Ryan: We've all made a horrible mistake. We all thought it was possible, but it was a mistake. Space is a mistake.
Laura: Space is a mistake. Not a lot of great things happen.
Ryan: It always seems to go wrong. Like, every time they go into space, they go in with an intention and something goes wrong. Like, there's always something that goes wrong.
Laura: Usually everyone perishes, whether it be by man's own hand or aliens, man's own.
Ryan: Elevated sense of themselves. Like in sunshine, you know, when they go to the other ship and they're like, well, we're not gonna save anyone. We're not worthy. All this. Or maybe this is God trying to tell us that we shouldn't save the earth and all this sort of thing. Yeah. Or like in 2001 with the robot that gets, you know, becomes self aware.
Laura: How.
Ryan: Yes.
Laura: Is he a robot, though?
Ryan: He's an AI, isn't he? He's an artificial intelligence.
Laura: We are not talking about AI or sunshine. We are talking about the 2018 science fiction horror film High Life, directed by Claire Denis and starring Robert Pattinson. Juliet Binoche. Andre Benjamin. Mia goth, Ewan Mitchell. And there's other people, but those are the ones I listed.
Ryan: Yes. Um, yeah. Ah. Crimson space.
Laura: Crimson space.
Ryan: Crimson space.
Laura: So the synopsis for this film that I pulled from letterboxd is Monty and his baby daughter are the last survivors of a damned and dangerous mission to the outer reaches of the solar system. They must now rely on each other to survive as they hurtle toward the oblivion of a black hole. Did you get that from the film?
Ryan: Uh, no, not really.
Laura: Um, because I pulled a sneaky on you and I made you do a french film and you didn't even know it.
Ryan: Well, it was in English, at least. Um, it was kind of like a.
Laura: Half and half french intent.
Ryan: Yeah, because we know Claire Denis French. That much we do know. No, I don't like the use of the word hurtling, because not only that, but, like, the child's able to grow up in the time it takes for them to hurtle towards this black hole. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Laura: So, well, maybe it's obviously quite far away. Very, very far.
Ryan: Yeah. Almost to the point where it's like, hmm hm. This is maybe something I don't really need to worry about too much.
Laura: I think they're in space for over 200 Earth years and 18 or so space years. Because space.
Ryan: Because space is weird.
Laura: Yes.
Ryan: Right. Okay. Because there's a black hole there either way.
Laura: Um, basically everyone on this ship are convicted criminals who traded a, um, death sentence or a prison sentence for a scientific space experiment, which is a sexual experiment, I guess, to see if life, they can create life in space, making babies. So the men have to give sperm samples and then the females are the compulsory mothers. Um, and they're all criminals. And as you can imagine, it doesn't go well.
Ryan: It sounded, um, like it's a space movie on paper. I would have looked at it and been like, that doesn't sound like a fantastic idea. But effectively they needed lands for the slaughter. They wanted to send them into space to do these tests and these experiments while also letting them know that they're likely, probably not going to get back home.
Laura: Probably because they're also trying to get to the black hole and see if they can do the old slingshot around. The black hole is another one of their, that's their main goal. Maybe it's one of the space goals, I guess.
Ryan: It's not that I need this film to be like explained to me.
Laura: I, um, can't help you with that anyway.
Ryan: No, a little bit more explanation would be fine. Um, but yeah, no, I think from what I got, I mean, you quickly realize that this is a mess.
Laura: Well, anyway, the tagline for this film is oblivion awaits. Uh, okay.
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Laura: Oblivion awaits.
Ryan: Why is it called high life?
Laura: High. You know, you're up in space high.
Ryan: And you're living life and life.
Laura: They're trying to make life up there.
Ryan: Wow. Um. Sounds like a Beach Boys song.
Laura: It also sounds like a stoner comedy.
Ryan: Which I'm pretty sure there's also probably high life. Yeah.
Laura: So Claire Denis had worked on this project for about 15 years. And originally when she was writing the script, she had Philip Seymour Hoffman in her mind. So she's writing for Philip Seymour Hoffman and he died, obviously.
Ryan: Right. Okay.
Laura: Which is very sad. But she had kind of his sensibility in mind for the character. And the next choice she had to play the main role was Vincent Gallo.
Ryan: Huh.
Laura: Obviously the producers were afraid of him, so they did not, they weren't keen on Vincent, but Robert Pattinson had kind of been not bugging the casting agent, but had been quite persistent. And Denis thought that he was too young and she wasn't really feeling him. But then I think it took so much time that got older and it ended up working out. And there you have Robert Pattinson in the lead.
Ryan: Yeah. Because how many english language films do you think she's done.
Laura: This is her first.
Ryan: Right. Okay. Because I think both sides of the Blade and stars at noon, I think they're french as well. So.
Laura: Yeah, I don't know if she's done another one since.
Ryan: Yeah, well, as we know, Claire Denys is a french film director and screenwriter. She probably cover this stuff just.
Laura: All right. Do you want to talk about that before I. Before I just.
Ryan: I think so.
Laura: Well, bulldoze the whole thing.
Ryan: You just went in there like a, like a destroyer. Um, so she's. She's lauded. She's regarded as one of the finest filmmakers of all time. Um, Beau Travail is considered one of the greatest films of all time as well. Uh, an incredibly lauded movie that she made. Um, she's had countless nominations and wins from Cannes, the Seizure Awards, Venice, Torino, Spirit Awards, Berlin. A whole bunch of stuff. Uh, she's made shorts ever since 1969. And in terms of her filmography, um, I'm just going to go over it just now. We have chocolat from m 1988, which is, I think, different from the other chocolat.
Laura: It's absolutely different from the Johnny Depp vehicle.
Ryan: The chocolate movie.
Laura: The chocolate.
Ryan: The chocolate movie. Uh, no fear, no die from 1990. I can't sleep from 94. Us go home. Which is kind of part of like a collection of other films from 1994 as well. Nanette and Bonnie from 96. Beautravelle, which I just mentioned. 99 trouble every day, 2001. Friday night, 2002. The intruder from 2000. 435 shots of Ram from 2008. White material, 2009. Bastards from 2013. Let the sunshine in. Ironically, 2017, high life is what we're covering today, which is 2018. And the other two films that I mentioned from 2022 are stars at noon and both sides of the blade. And I will mention as well, she's been in relatively good company over the course of her career. And I like to see that she was a first ad for wind vendors for wings of desire. And, um, she was an ad on Paris, Texas.
Laura: I love that. I love that for her.
Ryan: I mean, they're all good filmmakers.
Laura: They're all good filmmakers. And I hope good friends. Yes, friendship.
Ryan: Friendship. Friendship. Friendship is all you need.
Laura: Um, and you know the one thing you don't have in this film?
Ryan: What's that?
Laura: Friendship.
Ryan: You don't really have a lot of friendship.
Laura: No.
Ryan: You're starting with a lot of criminals. Well, the thing is, you start off with a baby.
Laura: You start off with a baby.
Ryan: And that to me, is two nightmares that come together is that you are stuck with a baby.
Laura: Especially how that baby was, how that baby came to be was just rape. Tons of it.
Ryan: There's. There's a lot of fluids flying around this spaceship, that's for sure. Kind, um. Of, kind of.
Laura: I've never seen so much breast milk, uh, either.
Ryan: I don't even want to talk about that right now.
Laura: Um, I still have a trivia. I know I jumped into my trivia.
Ryan: You did? I think you got way too excited, and I don't know why I'm excited.
Laura: Yeah. Patricia Arquette and Mia Goth were the first people cast in this film. But because you didn't see Patricia Arquette, you can imagine. She dropped out.
Ryan: She dropped out.
Laura: She's out.
Ryan: Why did she drop out? Cause of all the fluids flying around.
Laura: Too wet, she said. It's absolutely
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Laura: too wet for me. She did not say that. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. She had a conflict, a job conflict. So Juliet Binoche came in. Andre Benjamin.
Ryan: Yeah. Yeah.
Laura: What a treat.
Ryan: Andre Benjamin is. That's not Andre 3000, is it?
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: Ah. Uh, right. Cause that's the thing on Letterboxd. He is also just referred to as Andre 3000.
Laura: Like, really?
Ryan: Yeah. He's not referred to as Andre Benjamin. Pretty sure that's. I remember him from revolver and that's not a very good movie, but he was, he was pretty decent in that. Uh.
Laura: I could have used more of him in this film.
Ryan: Yeah, he's actually very. He's actually very good. Um, but the thing is, is like, the performances, like, every single one of them feels relatively quite, uh, understated. You know, this is.
Laura: Unless they're writing mechanical dildos or screaming and punching each other in the face.
Ryan: The aptly named fucked boxes. I. Yeah, I don't know if I was a massive fan of those things because they were also incredibly wet and had fluids, like, falling out of them and stuff like that. Yeah, I. There's. There's stuff in this film that I like. It kind of follows in the pantheon of other, uh, uh, art house space movies. Um. Um. And you. You're kind of like, yeah, there's. There's. There's certain questions I have about the logistics and the importance of this mission. Um. Um. Because I don't feel like it's. That lot of that stuff is. Is very well explained, but, um, um. Yeah, there's such a wet ship. I do like the design of stuff. I do like the way that it's put together. Yeah, it feels very kind of french illustrator, kind of like, you know, like Moebius. It feels like that, like, from the spacesuits to the incredibly geometric, kind of cyber truck esque, uh, spaceship designs. They're all very blocky. I mean, effectively the big spaceship is just a big rectangle. Yes, that's all it is. And then obviously the other little craft are just like. They look like the, uh, they look like the pods from the running man. You get shot out of into the game when that starts. But, uh. Yeah, no, there's a lot of stuff to like about the film. It's very kind of. I don't want to use the word understated, but it does. It jumps around an awful lot. The narrative is not particularly clear. It's like. It's very. It's very kind of jumpy. Uh, back and forthye.
Laura: Yeah, it's not timey wimey, but it is a non linear narrative for sure.
Ryan: And it would make sense because they're near a black hole, they're in space. It feels disorienting and I would feel like. I do think the structure and the way that the film is put together does help to add to the confusion and the claustrophobia and the, the monotony, like the, like the ennui of just the tasks and what they are doing on a daily basis, which put in the order that they're put in here, feels very weirdly, um, dehumanizing and unnaturalistic within the environment that they're in. Um. So there's big positives there.
Laura: I'm glad. I'm glad you have positives to say.
Ryan: I do. Yeah, I do.
Laura: Because I picked this movie.
Ryan: I, um, mean.
Laura: So you better like it.
Ryan: Yeah, I mean, it's no, it's no virtual sexuality, let's put it that way. No, um.
Laura: What a gem.
Ryan: Yeah, it's. There's just, again, there's a lot of fluids flying around in this spaceship and.
Laura: The one more discussion on the fluids. Don't worry.
Ryan: Well, I wanted to bring this up and I don't know if this is the right time to bring it up, but there's too much. There's too much dead dog stuff in this movie.
Laura: Yeah, it's kind of a bookend of dead dogs.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: I don't know if Claire Denis hates dogs or if she loves dogs or.
Ryan: She'S pulling a Lucas and she's like, that's how you emotionally invest people into your stories. But dogs and a couple of canines.
Laura: Are not murdered, they're just not alive.
Ryan: The first one in the flashback.
Laura: Some are alive.
Ryan: Yeah, some are alive. Um. Well, yeah, well, we'll get to that bit of a second, but the first dog is murdered, it's drowned by the little girl.
Laura: You see it happen.
Ryan: No. You assume that's what's happening.
Laura: That's fine.
Ryan: Because then Robert Pattinson is a young boy, rightfully so. Caves are fucking head in with a rock.
Laura: And hence his prison sex box
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Laura: in space.
Ryan: Well, that seals his. That kind of seals his, his, uh, fate. Like, that's his story effectively, is that he says certain lines in the movie where he's like, I wasn't raised by my parents. I was raised by my dog. And the thing is, is like, okay, that's cool. But then obviously it's, it's, it's a. It's apparent to me that, um, the dog is a very big part of his life at that particular moment in time.
Laura: So aren't they always?
Ryan: I mean, they are, but like, if someone killed my dog, I mean, I would be. I'd be pretty incensed. Like, you'd be skinning people alive sort of incensed. Um, yeah, no one's getting out of that situation the same way they went in. Um, but yeah, then there's the other weird scene later where there's an identical ship with the number six on it because they're number seven, which makes you think. Because I like stuff like that where it's like, what happened to the other six ships that happened before? Why has it gone so far as to be seven? Um, which is very ominous. I like it to have this kind of ominous feeling about it.
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: But then they stumble upon ship number six, which is only inhabited by dogs.
Laura: Yes.
Ryan: And there's a lot of dead dogs and there's a lot of puppies.
Laura: I don't even know how that. What is going on? How long have those dogs been out there? How many generations space dogs are there? Yeah.
Ryan: Well, I'm assuming number seven or any of these other kind of other numbered ships. They all have designated, um, uh, parameters that they're fulfilling. So number seven is a human making baby ship number six was for the dogs. Um, I mean, I don't know, maybe five was for the cats. But we never saw them. Um, um, no. You know, and maybe one's just full of midgets.
Laura: Really. Anything is possible out there in space. And dwarf and crimson, the one thing you know is gonna happen is pain and suffering in space.
Ryan: But the one thing they did not have on the dog ship was Juliet Binoche, who basically is a. She's a, she's a saucy scientist, effectively. Um, although I thought she was also a crim.
Laura: She is a crim. Did you ever find out what her crim. Her crim crime was?
Ryan: She murdered her children.
Laura: She did, yeah, she murdered her children.
Ryan: She's out here making kids because Mia goth. Mia goth's actually very good in the movie as well. Um, she asks her, she's like, how can I have any respect for you, you bitch, when you murdered your children? And she's like, did you suffocate them? And she doesn't say anything. And then she goes, I got a knife. And she like, that's. That's all I remember.
Laura: Wow.
Ryan: Yeah, it's like. So she just fucking stabbed her kids, and she murdered her children. But she obviously has some kind of scientific, uh, know how. That's why she's basically. I think she's the primary administer of. I, uh, guess the. The crew's treats, um, their routine, um, because, I mean, the monotony of, uh, their time on the ship is spent effectively dispensing fluids. Apart from Robert Pattinson, who abstains from any sort of sexual activity.
Laura: Yes.
Ryan: Um, does. Then they start to call a monk. But there's a very kind of weirdly spiritual element that kind of pervades the film. And I think some of that does come from. Comes m from, uh, Andre, who's, uh. He's very much. He's a big muser. He's, you know, he's kind of talking a little bit more sensibly. Because the rest of the men, you don't really get much of a. You don't get much of a good feeling from those Mendez. They kind of feel like they're on a sex ship, so they're going to be committing some level of sex acts.
Laura: And sex crimes in space.
Ryan: Yeah. And they're pretty. It's kind of, to me, like it's a, uh. It's like a pot that's just about to boil over, because everyone's. The tension that you feel there, it's from the off, because, again, you know, it's not so much timey wimey, but, like, it's told. The story is told out of order. So you begin with Robert Pattinson and the baby, and that's who's left. And before the title. The title card comes up, he disposes of all the bodies that were in the cryo chambers.
Laura: Yeah, that was pretty great.
Ryan: They do, like, they spoon feed you little bits of information. And I did find myself, at certain points, being like, oh, that's why it's like
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Ryan: that. Or, yes, that's why this character did this. Or this is what this is. Pertaining to. So that sort of stuff I found, I found interesting because it, you know, it's good writing, um, to do things like that. You know, you don't need it spoon fed to you. But I do feel like personally I did, I needed a little bit more information to help kind of motivate everything that was going on here.
Laura: The cast would sometimes on Sethe just laugh to themselves because they didn't quite know what was going on. And a few of them would have to watch the movie a couple of times. And it's more where the cast would kind of say it's whatever the audience brings to it.
Ryan: I would say so. You know, I would say so. But I also think like, irrespective of the fact that like maybe we, maybe we're confused. Maybe Claire, maybe Claire Denis, she knows everything. She's obviously the architect of this whole thing. Um, and she's only allowing us to know things, um, that she wants us to know and then for us to interpret everything else. But I do feel like the crux of this, of this entire story. Like the through line, I wished it was a little bit stronger. Now, I do get like, I do get most of the film. Um, but there are certain times where you're kind of like. Because there's a level of indecision. Because there's a level of like, um. A lack of information. I needed just a little bit more because it does pull you out a little bit, just a tiny amount because you do feel a little bit lost. But I can understand that it's maybe deliberate.
Laura: Would you like to talk about the sex chair for a second?
Ryan: If it's only for a second.
Laura: I need, um. A couple more than 1 second.
Ryan: Okay, I'll give you five.
Laura: Well, I think I mentioned it already, but, yeah. Juliet Bono.
Ryan: Okay, that's it. You had your seconds.
Laura: This kind of sex chair contraption.
Ryan: Well, no, there's more than, there's more than one. So.
Laura: The scene I'm um, talking about, she's sitting on one.
Ryan: Well, there's a, there's a male one and there's a female one.
Laura: I think that's fine. But she's using the female one.
Ryan: Well, of course she is.
Laura: Where it's got, you know, kind of a metal phallus sticking out. And she just.
Ryan: Has anyone ever seen a uh, burn after reading, um, that chair that George Clooney's character builds?
Laura: Yeah. Except with a medal, kind of silvery dildo instead of a rubbery one.
Ryan: Yeah, it's like, it's like the, it's like the wherever is the pleasure matic or whatever it was from, uh, demolition. Uh, man. Like, it's basically like simulated sex, pretty much. Except in this. No, it's like.
Laura: It's not simulated.
Ryan: No, in this, it's like you're fucking a machine, basically.
Laura: Yeah. So Denise said that the scene kind of stands to her as a rebuke to the stigma that is attributed to female sexuality. She finds it very moving. She loves that scene.
Ryan: Okay.
Laura: Means a lot to her.
Ryan: I mean, it looks cool. It's super. Like, that chain of. That sequence chain is disturbing.
Laura: Oh, yeah.
Ryan: Cause there's a shot that you see that I'm assuming is meant to be, like, inside Juliet Binoche. And all it is is just that dildo going in and out, in and out.
Laura: It's just wet, lots of sweat and hair. And the music is really intense. They had the music already made for that scene, so they played it in the background so she could kind of move to it.
Ryan: Okay.
Laura: So it's pre pale.
Ryan: It's effective. Yeah. I mean, it's effective. It's just very. It's awful disturbing.
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: Um, yeah, it's awfully disturbing.
Laura: I have a lot of other things I want to talk about, but we can come back to it. But I thought maybe we could jump into the penis scene.
Ryan: This scene.
Laura: It's an hour and 28 seconds around this part. I'm sure quite a few of you know who Ewan Mitchell is. He is in House of Dragons. House of Dragons. House of Dragons. Right. Not House of the Drag?
Ryan: House of Dragons.
Laura: Not House of the dragon.
Ryan: I think it's House of Dragons.
Laura: House of Dragons.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: Game of Thrones. And also, he's in Saltburn, so he's pretty popular right now. And I posted recently on the. On the beat instagram about how he is full frontal nude in House of dragons. And for one of the really rare
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Laura: times, he isn't wearing a prosthetic because HBO is so guilty of that. So I was really excited to hear that. But he is our guy in this scene. He's not a great person. Every time he walks around, you have that kind of sense of dread. There's something wrong with this guy.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: I mean, he is a criminal. They're all criminals. But that doesn't necessarily mean you're a violent criminal. You might have just done something wrong. Even though most of the people that are on this ship seem to have done a violent crime.
Ryan: Well, he hasn't. He has a. He has an air about him m in the way that he behaves, you know, before this scene takes place, he's.
Laura: Got a villain face.
Ryan: He has a bit of a villain face and a bit of a villain demeanor, like the way that he behaves. Um, and he's also, he's a little flirtatious towards the women and they're not particularly amenable to his flirtations.
Laura: No. So if he isn't getting it willingly, then he's gonna take it.
Ryan: Yeah. And this is kind of what happens.
Laura: Well, he walks into Mia goth's room and she's asleep. He's sniffing on her and just pulls a full attempted rape on her. But they're tied down. All the women in the room are tied down on the bed.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: So she can't get up.
Ryan: I wondered the reasoning for that, though.
Laura: There was a moment where Juliet Binoche walked by and some of the girls were douching. I think it's because of the. Because they are being inseminated.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: And Mia Goth is very against having. She doesn't want to have kids. She doesn't want to have any children.
Ryan: Yeah, that makes sense.
Laura: So she's tying her down so that they have a higher chance of getting pregnant.
Ryan: Yep. Yep. Okay. Okay. But it does not work in the favor, this, uh, this moment being tied down. No, because sharing rooms and stuff.
Laura: Yeah. Because the men are walking around and this guy's doing villain stuff. But in the women's attempt to stop him and thwart him, even though they're tied down, he just starts punching people in the face.
Ryan: It gets super violent.
Laura: It goes to eleven in this moment where he's just punching him in the face. Another girl walks in to try and stop him. Um, he just absolutely beats the crap out of her.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: And then Pattinson comes in, storms in, pulls him off of Mia Goth and destroys his face.
Ryan: Pretty much beats the fuck out of him. Um, yeah. Um, and he does, you know, he gets. Yeah, he gets the shit kicked out of him, quite rightly so. But then, uh, the girl that he originally punched in the face takes, uh, a knife or a piece of mirror or something and then stabs him in the face.
Laura: Stabs him in the eye.
Ryan: Yeah. Ah. Stabs him right in the face. And that's probably the end of him.
Laura: He's naked, by the way.
Ryan: He's completely naked, like this entire time.
Laura: He's ready to. He's ready to do the rape.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: So ready.
Ryan: He's gonna do it. Um, um, which is, ironically, this isn't the first rape in the movie either. Um, um, there's another one, but, uh, uh, yeah, with this.
Laura: What's the other one? Is that the binoche one?
Ryan: Binoche.
Laura: It comes after.
Ryan: Yeah, it comes after. It does come after.
Laura: Yes.
Ryan: Yeah, um.
Laura: Yes, the.
Ryan: Yeah, yeah, sorry. But yes, um, with this scene in particular, it's very fast, it's very frenetic. There's a lot of stuff going on. So the editing as well, for like the majority of the film, I think it cuts around maybe a little bit too much. Um, but it does, it does cut about a fair bit. So with this scene in particular, because of how frenetic it is, you're getting glimpses, you're getting flashes of this, flashes of that. You see a lot of balls.
Laura: Oh yeah.
Ryan: But in terms of like everything else, it's all mostly in flashes. Now you do see some stuff. But the thing is, it's like, it's. Nothing is not held for particularly long.
Laura: A blink and you miss it type of thing. But if you're the type of person that listens to this podcast, then you're probably in that situation going, oh wait, there might be a. There might be a naked man here.
Ryan: Yeah, this is something that we can cover on the episode because we've done far worse than this. Um. Oh yeah, but yeah, that. As scenes go, um. Yeah, that's, that's quite a, uh. That one's, that one's uh. That's something.
Laura: When I saw it years ago, it stuck out to me. I always remembered that particular scene. Cause the rest of the film is not as. There's a lot of other chaotic moments. There's a lot of wild stuff. But that scene in particular really stuck with me. I remembered that very clearly from the rest of the film.
Ryan: It's memorable when a lot of
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Ryan: the film isn't as memorable as that. That there.
Laura: A lot of the movie is quite chill. Not a lot of dialogue and just people doing things. Robert Pattinson.
Ryan: I think this film was far from chill as a film can get though.
Laura: Like, I think it's not crazy throughout the whole film, though, the whole film isn't wild. I mean, someone explodes. I want to talk about that later.
Ryan: That's true. But yeah, no, I think there's a ah, general air of like animosity and tension that like pervades the entire thing. So for it to feel chill, it feels chill when it's just passing in the baby.
Laura: I guess it starts out that way. It starts out with not a lot of drama except that he loses that one tool, which is pretty bad because of a baby screaming.
Ryan: I do like how space works in this particular regard. Because for whatever reason, in this spaceship, there's, there's gravity. For some reason or another. It's not like he drops the tool and it's just floating there in front of his face. He drops that tool and it falls down into an abyss. And there's nothing else there. Same with when he disposes of the bodies. Yeah, they end up in space, but they just. They're just dropping out. A door to nowhere, basically. Like the air hatch, it's just a door to nothing, basically.
Laura: I'm gonna go back because I wrote this quote down that Claire Denis said, uh, about the film, which is. It's interesting. So she says that, and I quote, the film is about sexuality, not sex. Sensuality, not pornography. Sexuality is about fluids.
Ryan: I'm getting back to the fluids, okay?
Laura: As soon as sexuality stirs within us, we all know it's about fluids. Blood, sperm, etcetera. I thought if I wanted that fluid subtext to work, we had to reduce the sex act to masturbation. I forbade myself any naked scenes. No erect cocks, no gaping pussies. We did it another way. High life speaks only of desiree and of fluids.
Ryan: Wow.
Laura: This is what she says.
Ryan: Okay.
Laura: Which is interesting. It reminds me.
Ryan: Gaping pussies.
Laura: She said I looked, uh, trust me, I searched and searched. I'm like, are you sure?
Ryan: Gaping pussies. I'm, um, sorry.
Laura: Yeah. But she says I forbade myself any naked scenes. Yeah, you forbade yourself, but no, you didn't, because there are naked scenes. There's more than one.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: And there's a sex scene. There's more scene.
Ryan: It's a rape scene.
Laura: So it's kind of.
Ryan: Yeah. Don't want to call it, say mild, but like, it's, uh.
Laura: Well, there's no nudity in the. In that rape scene, but no, it's.
Ryan: Like a sleep creep.
Laura: But, um. It's still rape.
Ryan: Yeah, it's still sleep creeping.
Laura: No consent given.
Ryan: No.
Laura: Which. Yeah, I mean, this is the part where I was gonna.
Ryan: The fact is, he was in a. He was in a state of sleep that entire time, which I don't believe.
Laura: He's been drugged. They've all been drugged. They've all been sedated. That's why it took everyone a long time to wake up during the other.
Ryan: So you think that's what. That's what's happened to those other. Those other ladies and those videos that you see online with the sleep creepings?
Laura: I really don't know.
Ryan: Just like in this film, I think they are acting. I think they have to be, because they would wake you up, like something poking and prodding you, like, uh, that. Like it would just wake you up.
Laura: If you were not, if you weren't drugged. Yeah. That would wake you up.
Ryan: Yeah. It was actually making it slightly more ominous, I think, as well.
Laura: Yeah, yeah.
Ryan: Now I feel terrible.
Laura: Thanks for bringing that up. So Juliet Binoche rapes Robert Pattinson's character, um, steals his seed. And it's so gross when she does it, and she's just rubbing on him and talking about how she loves his smell. Uh, there is an interesting thing that I read about Claire Denys. They spent a lot of time in Cologne, and they spent time at the european astronaut center.
Ryan: Okay.
Laura: So when Juliet Binoche's character is talking about the smell, it reminded me of this, of what Claire Denis said about how when she met the astronauts that were going up into the space station, one of them said that the first thing that struck him about his fellow passengers was how they smelled, that they're all so close together that they're able to identify each individual person by their own smell.
Ryan: So that makes sense because you're just.
Laura: So kind of packed in together. It looks like there's a lot more space in this shoebox. Space thing that they have.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: Ah, their sex box.
Ryan: Yeah, the boxes. Um,
00:35:00
Ryan: yeah, no, I think so. I think so. It's very. Well, that's the thing. Like, this is the epitome of what a, uh, modern spaceship would be, you know, and we've seen it countless times. Like, sunshine is exactly the same. Uh, the martian is also exactly the same, like, like spacecraft that are self operating, like, self sufficient. So they have, like, gardens and they're able to reconstitute their waste and, you know, all this sort of thing. So it's, it's not, um, um, it's not original. Um, but yeah, it's, uh, it's. It's effectively the blueprint for the modern spacecraft in cinema, I guess.
Laura: Well, after this rape, that's how Mia goth gets pregnant, because binoche steals it. And then while Mia goth is sleeping, sedated, pops it into her. How awful. It is the worst.
Ryan: It's pretty bad.
Laura: It's so scary.
Ryan: And it's what leads to probably, uh, the most horrific scene in the film, which is Mia goth, uh, playing with her milky boobies and literally just oozing everywhere.
Laura: She's soaking wet with breast milk. She's so upset. I mean, it's unbelievably upset, unimaginably upset. Because, you know, this someone sleep creep put some semen in ya. And now you're prego in space.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: That sucks.
Ryan: They came in through your window, and they got you while you were sleeping, and that's it.
Laura: I mean, no wonder she did what she did.
Ryan: Yeah, well, no. What, when she exploded, she pulled a.
Laura: Murder and then goes in?
Ryan: That she does, yes. She swaps out with one of the other crew members. There's a few disposable crew members. I, uh, will give it that. Like, we're talking about at least, like, the main four, right? You got your binoche, you got your 3000, you got your patty, and you also got your goth. Like, they're the only four I'm interested in. The other ones, I'm like, who are they? Like, you don't really care too much. Um, and there's another guy that ends up with fucking leukemia at some point, has a stroke.
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: You know, all that sort of stuff. Um, yeah, no, I think, uh, I. Yeah, I do think that she. Yeah, she does a murder. Who was going to be the pilot? Who was going to fly into the black hole? I don't know. Who thought it was going to be a good idea?
Laura: That's the experiment, though.
Ryan: They fly into the black hole, and then she just kind of ruptures from the inside out.
Laura: Uh, I looked into this, and apparently what happened to her is called spaghettification. Like spaghetti.
Ryan: Yes, I understand that terminology.
Laura: So if no one else knows what spaghettification is. So it's the stretching and horizontal compression of objects into long, thin shapes in a very strong, non homogeneous gravitational field. Huh.
Ryan: Huh. So I'm surprised that's even anything that exists. It comes from NASA, obviously. They're smart people.
Laura: It's. Yeah. So you're basically just being stretched in different directions on a different field. And. Yeah, she bleeds out of her eyes and her head explodes, and, uh, you end up just. Your whole body just dissipates.
Ryan: Wow.
Laura: Okay. You basically just pulled apart, and then you just, like, explode and dissipate into little bits.
Ryan: Wow. That's fucking horrific.
Laura: It's really, really awful.
Ryan: Yeah, yeah, because, I don't know, like, if you liken that stuff to, like, decompression and things, like, if you. Yeah, if you go too far down and the pressure. The pressure mounts too high, and then it just crushes you. Um, yeah, no, that's fucking, uh.
Laura: It's really bad.
Ryan: Fucking horrible.
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: It's not as horrible as the. The milky boobies scene.
Laura: No, that's your. That's the worst part for you.
Ryan: That, uh, is the worst part. And it is. It's not because of the breast milk. It's because of how she feels.
Laura: Because she's really upset and sad.
Ryan: Of course she's really upset. I'd be fucking upset and sad and, like, what? I couldn't stop my boobs from oozing.
Laura: No, there's special bras that.
Ryan: That.
Laura: That pregnant women wear.
Ryan: Well, she wasn't wearing it. They didn't have them in space. Either way. Come on, that's not nice. Give it a paper towel or something. You know, I mean, like, just help her out.
Laura: Well, they tried to help, and then.
Ryan: She punched them, so, I mean, I would as well.
Laura: Very violent.
Ryan: Oh, yeah,
00:40:00
Ryan: she's a criminal. Um, you know, let's not forget these were fucking criminals. It has probably deserved everything they got.
Laura: No. I don't know. After Mia goth explodes, I didn't write a single other thing down, so I.
Ryan: Did write down, um, that the child was praying to flower of Scotland.
Laura: You liked that, huh? Huh?
Ryan: I like that. It's because I, uh, uh. For obvious reasons. Yeah. We don't need to explain it.
Laura: Before we wrap it up, I have other notes that we kind of m. Gosh, you know what we are? We're really doing it like the movie. We're a little timey wimey. We're a little. Jumping over here. Jumping over there.
Ryan: Well, we don't need.
Laura: No, we're trying to keep the theme. I like it.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: We did it on purpose, so.
Ryan: Oh, that's right. We did.
Laura: We totally did it on purpose. Claire Denis wrote the script in English because the story obviously takes place in space. And she figured people speak English or Russian or Chinese, but not French in.
Ryan: Space, hence, no one speaks French in space.
Laura: Hence her first english language film. Well, when she was at the European astronaut Center, she met a Scots astronaut who spoke English but spoke American English, because I guess that's kind of the, uh, space standard, I think.
Ryan: Yeah, there has to be certain standards in space. So I think good for him. Good for him to, you know, keep it. Keep his. Keep that accent just under the belt, you know, like, make sure that they think that he's american when he's not. When he's just like Scotland the brave. Yeah.
Laura: Okay.
Ryan: He knows what he's doing.
Laura: The baby in the beginning of the film is played by Scarlett Lindsay, who happens to be Robert Pattinson's goddaughter.
Ryan: Okay. Yeah. Cause the relationship between him and the child is very convincing all the way throughout.
Laura: The baby is, uh, the best.
Ryan: The baby is the best, which is crazy. Yeah. Those scenes are very good with the baby.
Laura: Apparently his, you know, one of his best friends, he had a baby, and he remembered he was having a lot of trouble kind of connecting with the other babies. The other babies weren't working for him. And he goes, my friend has a baby. Let me check out this baby. Cause he remembers when the baby was born. You know, everyone's passing the baby around, uh, everyone's touching the baby, and the baby didn't care. Very chill kid, super open to everybody. And ended up working out.
Ryan: Yeah. So, yeah, I think that's what you need.
Laura: You need a personable baby.
Ryan: You don't see a lot of, like, child, like, baby personalities in films that much anymore. You know, you had your three men and a baby. Like, there's that. Obviously, you need a baby in that movie.
Laura: Absolutely.
Ryan: Otherwise there's five star film. Yeah, it's weird. It's just three men speaking to something that's not there. Um, and then obviously Ghostbusters, too.
Laura: That was a very personable baby, very personal.
Ryan: And that was twinsd.
Laura: Yeah.
Ryan: As well. It's played by twins.
Laura: Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, also twin babies with personalities not in film.
Ryan: Well, I'm not really. I don't care about that. I just. They're the only. They're the only two that I know. Those two movies. Baby movies.
Laura: The baby from american sniper. Um, that's a joke comment.
Ryan: Oh, okay.
Laura: Because that was not a real baby.
Ryan: Okay. What was that? The fake baby. I don't know what that means, though. There's a fake baby.
Laura: You don't know about the american sniper fake baby.
Ryan: I've seen that movie, but the fake baby.
Laura: Yeah. Ah, I'll show you later.
Ryan: Right. Okay.
Laura: It's really weird.
Ryan: I only saw the movie once, and I hate it.
Laura: I remember that. The one. Oh, yeah, that movie's awful. But I remember seeing that baby, and I go, oh, just cover it up. It's just a dollar.
Ryan: Oh, right. Oh, that's not bad. Right? Okay, right. Okay.
Laura: I see Yorick le so shot the film and also happened to be the cinematographer on a bigger splash. I like to find connections.
Ryan: Okay.
Laura: Like, to find connections and good job, people that work in penis films.
Ryan: Yeah, well, there's plenty of connections. I feel great.
Laura: Thank you for that. Did you have any other connections? No, you didn't. I did. I have the connections, and I did the research. I win. It's not a gameplay.
Ryan: I mean, you picked this movie, so you better have those connections. You better have this. You better have this served up.
Laura: Geez Louise. The only other thing I wrote down is that Robert Pattinson sings a song appropriately called Willow because that is the name of the child in the film that plays
00:45:00
Laura: during the end credits.
Ryan: There you go.
Laura: He sings that song.
Ryan: Yeah. We'd never have known unless you told me.
Laura: So that's what I'm here for.
Ryan: That's what you're here for, doing the work. Let's wrap it up.
Laura: I'm gonna go first just because I felt like it and I jumped in.
Ryan: Yeah. Plus, I also want you. I want you to be my barometer. Cause I'm not 100% sure what I'm gonna do with this one.
Laura: Oh, interesting. Yeah. For visibility and context of the penis scene, I gave this a, uh, one. It's there and it's appropriately there. It's just dark because the lights are off. And it's like you said, ryan, it cuts and cuts and cuts and cuts because it's a really hectic, frantic, wild scene. People are getting punched, there's blood everywhere. People are tied up, and it's total chaos. Yeah, it doesn't. The frequent cutting makes sense just because it does help bring that tension higher and higher and higher because it is really a wild moment in the film. But, yeah, there are a lot of moments where there could have been more. Um. But the fact that Claire Denis goes, there's. I didn't do any nude scenes in this film. And there are some. Obviously, she's not going to go overboard by having him lay on the ground, covered in blood with his eye out on his back.
Ryan: Yeah, well, I mean, I get it. Yeah. I would agree with your rating. I would also give it, uh, a one. I agree with it for all those other things, but then I'm kind of just like. You're like, maybe there should have been more. And I'm like, you know what? Uh. When it comes down to these. These moments of rape in films and stuff, I'm glad we're not seeing too much, to be fair. I think you see enough.
Laura: You're probably right. Considering the context of this moment and of the film.
Ryan: As scenes go, though, like, this one's not as gratuitous as others, I feel like we're maybe a little bit desensitised with some of the things that we watch.
Laura: Yeah, maybe I'm wanting more just because I always want to see more, but. Yeah, but you're right. Maybe I should. We need. I need to rethink. I need to rethink this.
Ryan: Like, what would a layman think if they saw this? They'd be like, oh, my God, I don't want to see, like, what Denise said. You know, she didn't want to wreck cocks. She didn't want gaping holes. You know, she just wanted to, you know, she wanted to keep it. Keep it on a level, you know, of decency, because that's obviously what she. I mean, the fact that a woman of her age, of her career standard is saying things like that, uh, in an interview for anything I think is fan fucking tastic.
Laura: That's true. So maybe if you were to separate these two, visibility one, context, like, four.
Ryan: You know, I'm still gonna give it because it's. We pair them together, we don't kind of separate them. I still think it ends up being a one because I don't want to see a dick going into the vagina.
Laura: No, of course not. But when he's raping, when he's pulled off of her and he's getting the crap beat out of him. Yeah. I could. I could stand for a little bit of full frontal nudity when you're getting the shit beat out of you and you're a rapist.
Ryan: Yeah.
Laura: And get kicked in the junk, I guess, like, that doesn't happen.
Ryan: But I think the fact that, like, you have a moment like that and then it's kind of pervaded by a lot of gratuitous, like, full frontal male nudity and stuff like that, I don't know how. I don't know how that kind of feels as that continues on. Yeah. I think maybe the moment could be more fucked up. Like, that's fine. But from. From another standpoint, like, I understand that we, you know, we don't need to. We don't need to go that far with it, so.
Laura: Well, in terms of a balance, there is a tilted shift towards female nudity. There's quite a bit more female nudity in this film.
Ryan: Yeah, yeah. But it's. There's no male gaze or anything on this. I mean, uh, that scene with Mia goth, like, I I don't ever want to do that again. Like, that's.
Laura: Yeah, both of those scenes with the. The one with Juliet Binoche riding the tiger and then. And then the Mia goth Milton. Oh.
Ryan: Because they're not. None of it's not sexy. You're not watching it. Like, like, whoa, look at her go. Like, it's not that. Like, it's kind of the way her.
Laura: Hair in that scene with Julia binoche, it is sad. And the way her hair is kind of sweatily draped on her back.
Ryan: Well, it's very long. Like, her hair is very long.
Laura: I mean, this movie is a horror movie, but that's classic horror movie. It's like the ring. It's very creepy. You know, when it's like all on her back anyway.
Ryan: Yeah. When she. That bitch is coming
00:50:00
Ryan: out of the tv.
Laura: Exactly.
Ryan: Yeah. It's crazy. Those nails that come off.
Laura: Okay. Yes. So the film itself, I gave a three and a half letterboxed. I, I wasn't able to look ahead of time to see what I rated it the first time.
Ryan: You gave it three and a half?
Laura: I did, yeah. Well, then I feel the same way.
Ryan: I was at least able to see that their servers must be down, um, at the time of this recording. Um, no, you gave it three and a half and it looks like you're giving it three and a half.
Laura: I'm sticking true to my og opinion that I like this movie. And it's not very long. It is an hour and 50 minutes about. And I like that. It's fine.
Ryan: Yeah, the film's not boring, I would say. It's slow in parts. And I do feel like I just, there's a thirst I have for information. Certainly when I feel like the general concept of it's quite strong. I just wanted more from it. But I did give it a three. It's slightly better than average. Yeah, I just wanted a little bit more. But I feel like it's like, as a piece, like it's doing, it's doing what it wants to do, but yeah, I feel like I just wanted a little bit. I wanted a little bit more.
Laura: I did not feel the time. You know, I love an hour and a half, 96 minutes. Beautiful. This runs over that. But I didn't feel that at all. I mean, it whipped by, it doesn't.
Ryan: Feel long, but I think it's because it's interesting. Um, I don't know how it would fare from a second viewing, but yeah.
Laura: Hey, I stayed true.
Ryan: You did. But you'd seen it a wee while ago. I hadn't really seen it before. Um, and I like a kind of art house space movie, you know?
Laura: Uh, absolutely.
Ryan: It's like one of my favorite things, but yeah, there's, yeah, I think it just, I drawn it something more from it and I think it has a, I think it has. There's, there's a lot of interesting stuff in there. It's just. Yeah, I just wanted a little bit more explanation. It's not a bad movie at all, so.
Laura: No, it's good. Yeah, it's great. Well, gee whiz. Do you have anything else you want to add before we jet back off into space?
Ryan: No, I think we need to get. No, we can't go back into space.
Laura: Like, before we land the ship.
Ryan: Well, missions like this always seem like a bad idea. I don't know why they continue to do it like they need to. Just stay on the ground.
Laura: Don't go to space.
Ryan: Don't explore.
Laura: No, just stay home.
Ryan: Just stay at home.
Laura: Stay home, watch movies. Who needs to see what's out there?
Ryan: Exactly.
Laura: I don't need to see anything. Well, thank you all for listening to our episode on High Life. Remember, if you are online and you feel like rating the podcast, rate it high. Why would you rate it low if you're still listening? That'd be super weird.
Ryan: Yeah, five stars only.
Laura: Yeah, that's right. If you can give ten, do that because it helps us and we appreciate it. And you can find us on all the social media, which is on the beat. B I T T E, anywhere. I mean, we're on all the things.
Ryan: Yeah, anything helps us. We just spread us around a little bit. If you like us, maybe have a friend that will like us because we're pretty amusing. Or at least Laura's nice.
Laura: I am very nice.
Ryan: Yeah, I'm. I'll tolerate you.
Laura: And that's all. That's all we ever could want.
Ryan: And that's all you're gonna get.
Laura: Appreciate that. Well, thanks again, everybody. We will see you again in a couple of weeks. Coming to you from that fuck box.
Ryan: In space, from spaceship number seven.
Laura: Number seven. I've been Laura.
Ryan: Mia. Golf's milky boobies. Oh, dear God.
Laura: Yeah, that's. Shut it down.
00:53:53