It’s quite rare to find contemporary filmmakers who seem to be reinventing themselves, as well as their medium, with every new film they make. Jessica Hausner has been working for nearly a quarter of a century, the majority of that time spent in the proverbial shadows, making solid films that are not widely seen. It has only been in the last decade that she has emerged as one of the most exciting voices in contemporary filmmaking, with both Amour Fou and Little Joe garnering her an abundance of acclaim, specifically for how they navigate tricky subject matter and seamlessly leap between genres. Her most recent effort is the wonderfully peculiar and deeply disturbing Club Zero, in which we are taken to a private boarding school in some unspecified European country, where we are introduced to a motley crew of privileged high school students, who are led down a path of self-destruction by their new nutrition teacher, who holds some bizarre views on some of life’s fundamental qualities. Hausner, who has never allowed convention or decorum guide her work more than the forthright ambition with which she crafts these stories, once again proves to be a fascinating filmmaker, and while this is by no means a film that will be to the taste of every viewer, its strange tone and off-kilter sense of humour, coupled with its darkly comedic approach to some very serious subject matter, makes for quite an experience, the kind that we rarely find in a contemporary cinematic landscape that usually refuses to take risks, in fear of alienating a portion of the audience. These are all factors that are woven throughout the fabric of Club Zero, a challenging but brilliant satire that examines many different ideas, each one being superbly developed by a director whose desire to unsettle and provoke has made her one of the most intriguing filmmakers of her generation, and a truly singular voice in an industry sometimes harmed by its preoccupation with convention, something that Hausner actively works to contradict in her films.

Alienation is not a concern for Hausner, who seems to operate under the accurate belief that her originality is more appealing than any comfort that can be found in a film, and while the stories may be niche and their execution bordering on controversial, the target audience will inevitably find its way through the hordes of mainstream viewers who are simultaneously repulsed and outright confused by what they are seeing on screen. This is a powerful position to be in as a filmmaker, and while she may know the importance of restraint and drawing a solid boundary that can never be crossed, she is also not someone who comes across as being particularly invested in the status quo. You merely have to look at the premise of Club Zero to realize precisely how much incredulity Hausner has towards socially mandated deportment and dignity – if anything, this is the exact quality she is interested in challenging, and through crafting this film, which is a bold and unflinching satire that cuts to the core of what it means to be human and a part of supposedly “decent” society, in terms of addressing the most despicable and hedonistic components of our species, she can create something singularly unforgettable and deeply disturbing, coming very close to crossing that boundary she sets at the beginning, but stopping just before it becomes too harrowing. There is an art to crafting art that directly confronts (and in some cases encourages) the concept of bad taste, Club Zero is impolite and deeply inappropriate in some parts, and there are even a few sequences where we find Hausner doing something not only entirely unexpected, but quite contradictory to the standards that linger over much of contemporary art. Hausner dismisses these concerns regularly throughout Club Zero, which is a harsh and often quite mean-spirited film, which is all part of its artistic ingenuity and contributes to the overall sense of dread that drives the entire film and makes it such a wonderfully off-kilter work of art.

Hausner is very clearly a director who enjoys stirring a reaction, and absolutely every moment in Club Zero emphasizes this, almost to the point where it becomes part of the film’s overall identity. The film has its roots in a very common subject, that of consumerism, as shown through the concept of food and nutrition, a universal concept and one that Hausner reconfigures into the basis for one of the year’s most haunting films. This film is a body horror combined with darkly comedic satire and offers a bold perspective on something that is widely understood to be something of a universal experience. Considering how the film directly addresses very tricky subjects like eating disorders and how food is both the fundamental basis of life and a status symbol at the same time, there were many opportunities for the director to court controversy – and she most certainly leaps at the opportunity, knowing that making the audience uncomfortable is a far more effective experience, and something we find her doing throughout the film. Club Zero constantly aims for the jugular in a way we rarely witness, and it is almost gleeful in its attempts to cross the border between morality and outright exploitation, which is all part of the director’s overall intentions for this deeply disquieting film. Hausner is not only pushing boundaries, she is actively trying to dismantle them from both the top and bottom, working her way to the very epicentre of the human condition, from which she makes some startling but brilliant remarks that may be quite shocking in their implication, but have their roots in an uncomfortable reality that we often wish that we could avoid confronting, but yet are far more widespread than we may initially imagine. Her way of taking such shocking subject matter and reconfiguring it into a bitingly funny satire that carries broad, something even quite unsettling, interpretations is just a further sign of Hausner’s incredible skill, and while it is always very uncomfortable, and sometimes even quite nauseating, it is worth the effort since the commentary that begins to emerge is truly exceptional and seems like she is pioneering an entirely new kind of discourse around very common subjects.

The narrative structure of Club Zero is quite peculiar, since it centres around half a dozen students at the school, and is essentially a series of vignettes in which we see their journeys with “conscious eating”, the art of being more aware of what one consumes, but which leads to something that can only be described as purposeful self-destruction. Nearly all of these young actors are newcomers, and this proves to be a potential breakthrough for many of them. Hausner is not a novice when it comes to working with younger or more inexperienced actors, and she manages to rework their lack of experience to the benefit of the film, such as in the intentionally stilted delivery and the fact that many of them don’t feel entirely natural on screen, which could be either beginner’s nerves or an active effort on the part of the director and her cast. Highlights in the ensemble include Ksenia Devriendt (who is the closest the film to a de facto protagonist), Florence Baker, Luke Barker and Samuel D. Anderson, all of whom have exceptional careers ahead of them should they decide to continue pursuing this profession. These terrific young actors are supported by Mia Wasikowska, who is not the main character, but rather the anchor of the film – she’s the catalyst for all of the events, and she weaves in and out of the film, taking the reigns in some instances, and being a slightly foreboding supporting presence in others. Regardless of what she is doing at any given moment, Wasikowska is turning in yet another incredible performance – she is at her most sinister, playing the mysterious Miss Novak as a series of bewilderingly brilliant choices – her accent of indeterminate origin intermingles with her unique physicality, which exists somewhere between stoic and stiff, and accompanied by a general aura of malice. The most terrifying villains are those who seem to be perfectly normal, but who gradually reveal themselves to be a force of chaos, which is all delivered with a joyful demeanour and well-meaning personality. It is some of Wasikowska’s best work, and she proves to be quite a formidable vessel for Hausner’s deeply disturbing and profoundly fascinating body horror.

Quite evidently, the conceptual framework behind Club Zero is well-defined and explored with thorough commitment from everyone involved. However, it is in the execution that we find many of the more interesting details emerging, as well as proving Hausner’s aptitude as a visual stylist is on par with her storytelling prowess. On a purely technical and creative level, Club Zero is an extremely disturbing film that uses every moment to create a hostile and cold atmosphere, which is directly related to the narrative. Warmth and comfort never once factor into the film, and Hausner works laboriously to evoke the most sterile, harsh environment she can. Vaguely Orwellian in terms of how it presents a very recognizable, slightly dystopian version of reality, one that is not at all futuristic, but still carries a slight sense of the uncanny, the film’s tone is exceptionally challenging, and can be quite an ordeal for those who aren’t sure of what to expect from this story. Setting it in some unspecified location prevents any sense of familiarity, and every intricate detail, from the costuming and the production design, is accounted for throughout the film. The use of colour, shape and space are very distinct – Hausner is part of a movement that includes the likes of Yorgos Lanthimos and Peter Strickland, where it isn’t enough to disturb and unsettle the status quo through what is explicitly told or shown on screen, but that it’s very often the ambigious spaces between these more prominent features that are most effective. Club Zero intended to create a social satire in which the audience feels a sense of alienation and isolation, almost to the point of evoking despair. The ambiguities of the narrative interweave with the sterile nature of the filmmaking, which work together in tandem to create a cold, clinical atmosphere that feels like it is rapidly approaching something recognizable, but emphasizing the more disturbing elements of reality that many of us would prefer to keep at a distance. It’s the destruction of this very boundary between comfort and despair that gives Club Zero such a distinct aura, and Hausner continuously pushes herself to do something profoundly different with this bizarre but beguiling narrative.

At the risk of ending this conversation with a cliche (albeit one that is entirely appropriate to the nature of the film), it’s best to describe Club Zero as an acquired taste, which is only putting it mildly. We may not know exactly what to expect from this film – the truly unexpected twists and turns are well-concealed and should be kept that way to enrichen the experience (which is built on the element of surprise), and nothing can prepare us for some of the commentary present in the film. However, this is a smart satire, since it knows that, regardless of how we are naturally going to remember the visceral discomfort garnered from the very traditionally harsh narrative and the accompanying images, the element that will linger for the longest is the feeling of despair, particularly the idea that such societies may very well exist, which burrows its way into our minds and results in something profoundly disturbing emerging as a result. The film’s radical sense of humour, which clearly shows very little intention of restraint or political correctness, supplements the dark nature of the narrative, and the gradual dismantling of common socio-cultural ideas leads to quite a fascinating dark comedy. It’s not an easy film, and it can become intentionally confusing at some points, which is rarely ideal. Yet, with someone who can command their craft at the helm, it can lead to a fascinating and quite beguiling work of cinema, and Hausner once again proves her exceptional mettle as one of the most exciting voices in contemporary cinema, making a film that conveys both her interest in alternative forms of satire, as well as unsettling conventions in incredibly strange but undeniably captivating ways, which is one of the many reasons why Club Zero, as challenging as it may be, is an absolute triumph of contemporary satire.