High Life

Play trailer

2:09

High Life

R

2019

1h 53m

Sci-Fi

Mystery & Thriller

Adventure

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

83%

Tomatometer

235 Reviews

42%

Popcornmeter

1,000+ Ratings

Monte 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.

Watch on Fandango at Home

Stream Now

Critics Consensus

High Life is as visually arresting as it is challenging, confounding, and ultimately rewarding - which is to say it's everything film fans expect from director Claire Denis.

Read Critics Reviews

Sophie Monks Kaufman

Little White Lies

12/23/2019

5/5

All I can say is that it's a pleasure to have my reviewing faculties blown and my psyche splintered by this master filmmaker.

Go to Full Review

Donald Clarke

Irish Times

12/21/2019

3/5

There is much of Tarkovsky's Solaris in the main body and the flashbacks... could be lifted straight from the same director's Stalker. High Life is, however, stuffed with Denis' characteristic philosophical derangement.

Go to Full Review

Mark Kermode

Kermode & Mayo's Film Review

05/22/2019

It goes out into the universe to look in...it is first and foremost a film by Claire Denis.

Go to Full Review

Nairon Santos de Morais

Loud and Clear Reviews

02/07/2025

4/5

While High Life flopped upon its release in 2019, Claire Denis’ English-language debut is not a film that should be forgotten. On the contrary, it’s a movie to discover and fall in love with.

Go to Full Review

Calum Cooper

Source (Scotland)

07/14/2024

4/5

There’s such conviction in its refusal to bend to convention that I find it hard not to admire the film in some way, shape or form.

Go to Full Review

Paul Kanieski

KSQD Community Radio

07/19/2023

Composed of equal parts mystery, thriller and speculative fiction, High Life starts off slowly but rewards patience, gradually working towards a finale which weaves elements of Interstellar and 2001: A Space Odyssey into something uniquely Claire Denis.

Go to Full Review

Read all reviews

Beks C

@beks22 Mar 8

A truly unique, creative and deeply thought-provoking film with stellar performances by the entire cast. Robert Pattinson is brilliant as Monte. There was something about the ending that I just found so intensely moving.

See more

Noa B

@RT43503535 Jan 14

It's a slow burn.. to put it politely. Way too slow for me. Got as far as 40 minutes. You get a gratuitous masturbation scene which is always super fun in a sci-fi movie, which did nothing to advance the plot. The set design was flat. Effects were even flatter and I have no idea still what the film was supposed to be about. Nor do I care.

See more

RACHAEL A

@REELTHOUGHTS Dec 26

I couldn't get past the first 15 minutes a crying baby put me off. Hard pass.

See more

Jack F

@MovieFan111 Nov 19

I hated it. Slow boring space travel movie for adults.

See more

Sarah C.

@RT58188431 Nov 19

After the fifth sexual assault scene, you begin to wonder what the point is. Mia Goth gets spaghettified. EDIT: I’m ashamed to say I wrote this before finishing the movie. The last twenty minutes I actually enjoyed, since they involved more space exploration, with stunning astronomic visuals, and less gratuitous sexual violence interspersed with annoying narration. This last bit also made the daughter a likable character you could root for, and somehow gave Robert Pattinson’s character more depth than the first hour and a half could. Overall, the last part gave it half a star more for me. I’m not sure why they gave the daughter a full beat in the black hole, though.

See more

James B

@Madstylesnz Nov 1

If you’re after a slow burn, arthouse sci fi film this should appeal. I recommend just watching it and accepting it’s ambiguity. It’s an interesting space travel film but there are deeper metaphorical aspects of life the director is exploring here. I have to admit I do quite like Robert Pattinson in films, he’s one of those actors where the ‘camera loves ‘em’ as they say.

See more

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Claire Denis

Director

Robert Pattinson

Monte

Juliette Binoche

Dr. Dibs

André Benjamin

Tcherny

Mia Goth

Boyse

Lars Eidinger

Chandra

Annihilation

88%

67%

Annihilation

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Annihilation

Prospect

89%

73%

Prospect

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Prospect

Bird Box

64%

58%

Bird Box

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Bird Box

Future World

0%

12%

Future World

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Future World

Riddick

58%

56%

Riddick

Watchlist

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

Best-Reviewed Movies by Genre 2019

Best Movies Off the Radar 2019

21 People Ruling 2019 (So Far)

High Life: Trailer 1

2:09

View more videos

View more photos

Synopsis

Monte 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.

Director: Claire Denis
Producer: Oliver Dungey, Laurence Clerc, Olivier Thery-Lapiney, Christophe Friedel, D.J. Gugenheim, Andrew Lauren, Klaudia Śmieja, Claudia Steffen
Screenwriter: Geoff Cox, Jean-Pol Fargeau
Distributor: A24
Production Co: Alcatraz Films, arte France Cinéma, A24, Andrew Lauren Productions, Madants, Arte, Pandora Filmproduktion, BFI Film Fund
Rating: R (Disturbing Violent Content|Disturbing Sexual Content|Graphic Nudity|Language|Sexual Assault)
Genre: Sci-Fi, Mystery & Thriller, Adventure
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 5, 2019, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 11, 2019
Box Office (Gross USA): $1.2M
Runtime: 1h 53m

Most Popular at Home Now