Jessica Hausner’s “Club Zero” shows a school where “absolute fasting” is encouraged and the consequences that this produces. The subject is interesting, the film’s rhythm lacks calories and condiments.
What would parents of any teenager say if the authorities taught healthy eating guidelines at school? Well, enough of the rubbish served in the school canteen, the junk food in the club canteen, the fancy places where unhealthy (and expensive) dishes are consumed and the consumption of sweets. But what would you say if the teacher in charge suggested extreme dietary changes, praised absolute fasting, and formed a small group of fanatical creatures willing to become thinner and more emaciated than they really are? It may be too late by the time parents understand the full extent of what is happening.
That is the initial guideline of “Club Zero”a satirical film by the director Jessica Hausner which has been the talk of the town in various places. Hausnerand its co-writer Geraldine Bajardhave been making some quite original warnings about human obsessions and the management of people, from “Foolish love”where in the midst of romanticism a bored poet persuades a dissatisfied woman to commit suicide together, and “Little Joe”where a geneticist creates a laboratory plant whose aroma provides a certain feeling of happiness, and that product can be marketed (even though she discovers the harmful side effects in her own son) until the “Club Zero” that we now see, and that is being the most widely distributed work of the duo.
All that sounds interesting. The problem is that Ausner has a style as refined as it is aseptic. He seems to be more concerned with the symmetrical composition of a shot and the slow movement of the camera than with the affliction of his characters, whom he makes expressionless. (admittedly also disturbing). In short, The film is interesting because of what it says, it is engaging because of the visual work, and it is a little boring because of the inanimate way in which everyone acts.. There are also some unpleasant scenes involving food, and some confusion, perhaps deliberate, about the story’s ultimate intentions.
In this regard, after seeing so much imposition of absolute fasting, it makes you want to balance things out by seeing it again. “The Big Feast”of Marco Ferreri. That one also had unpleasant scenes and its allegorical intention about consumer society was not within everyone’s reach either. But they acted Mastroianni, Tognazzi, Noiret, Michel Piccoliwho died eating (or something else), and Andrea Ferreoland we won’t say that it was a song to life, but it was much more entertaining.
“Club Zero” (Austria, GB, Germany, 2023). Dir.: Jessica Hausner. Int.: Mia Wasikowska, Ksenia Devriendt, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Elsa Zylberstein.
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
