Acclaimed French filmmaker Claire Denis is making her English film debut with High Life. It’s “a mind-shattering astral epic” that follows a group of criminals, including Robert Pattinson and André “3000” Benjamin, who are sent to space under the impression that they’ll be freed from their sentences after participating in a mysterious mission. Meanwhile, they’re getting dangerously close to a giant black hole, and things seem to be spiraling out of control. We think. Though, from watching the trailer, it’s hard to be sure (Zadie Smith, who was originally onboard for the film, left over disagreements with Denis on the plot). One of the opening scenes shows Pattinson and Benjamin working in the garden — a place designed to remind them of their former life on Earth. “We’re scum. Trash. Refuse that didn’t fit into the system. Until someone had the bright idea of recycling us to serve science,” Pattinson says
The “science” part Pattinson is musing about actually doesn’t refer to the black hole at all, but involves various sex and fertility experiments, conducted by mad scientist Juliette Binoche, which to understand requires a new set of vocabulary. The trailer debuts a dildo contraption known as the “fuckbox,” which stirred up chatter for months (after High Life’s premiere at Toronto International Film Festival), and was originally called the “love machine,” a name that was scrapped for being too French. Binoche sheds her clothes and steps into the spartan chamber. “I know I look like a witch,” she says, creepily. “You’re foxy and you know it,” Pattinson replies. Another term Denis introduces in High Life is “spaghettification,” which refers to the way bodies are twisted and contorted throughout the film in the various experiments. This would all be weirdly quite steamy, if it weren’t for the fact that Denis is not only playing on our fear of space, but questioning what it means to be human at the same time! “You lied to us,” Mia Goth says, accusing Binoche of performing disturbing acts on the prisoners without any intention of ever sending them home.
“Break the laws of nature and you’ll pay for it,” Pattinson says, as the trailer concludes. High Life, the latest from A24 Studio, which brought us Moonlight, Lady Bird, and The Florida Project, hits theaters April 12. Watch the fully freaky trailer below.