“Club Zero”, the delicious and tragic chronicle of indoctrination for the ecological cause

Jessica Hausner’s film opens with a warning against the eating disorders it evokes. Club Zero is a disturbing proposition on a theme that now concerns almost everyone, the protection of the environment. In her latest feature film, the director associates it with food, youth and education.

Miss Novak, played by an incredible Mia Wasikowska, arrives at a private high school to teach“mindful eating”. His method advocates, for example, breathing before eating a chocolate bar. Becoming aware of one’s diet would, according to her, be a way of participating in protecting the environment. As the first scene of the film shows, the young people who enroll in his course have diverse motivations. But little by little, under the influence of their teacher, their relationship with food will become more radical, before the eyes of the high school students’ parents. Two of them are played by Elsa Zylberstein and Mathieu Demy. Without arousing the suspicion of the head of the establishment of excellence, played by the Danish Sidse Babett Knudsen decked out in a rather baroque wardrobe, Miss Novak takes her followers to the doors of the strange Club Zero, with its drastic regime.

A guru on their plates

After Little Joe, Jessica Hausner once again demonstrates her ability to depict influence, whether of plant origin – this was the case in her previous film – or human. First, through the organization of space, Miss Novak and her students evolve in perfectly ordered and sanitized settings which convey a feeling of emptiness, both in the high school and in the homes of their mostly rich parents. .

Then, the dining rooms, the place for practicing conscious eating taught by Miss Novak, are predominant. The appetizing appearance of the dishes found there contrasts with the way in which new followers of the method welcome them, namely most often with indifference or disgust. The contrasts are also found at other levels. For example, when the dialogues trigger general hilarity to better immerse the audience in the spiral of the drama they are witnessing. Just as the shimmering palette of the film contrasts with the darkness of the story: red and green, which we often find in Jessica Hausner’s sets, are added here to the yellow and purple universe of the students’ uniforms.

Nourished by an illusory freedom

Finally, the plot draws its strength from the lethargic bubble in which the children and the parents evolve for completely different reasons. Among high school students, it reflects their level of adherence to Ms. Novak’s theories and their desire to resist the dictates of the consumer society. As for the parents, their passivity reflects their inability to find the appropriate solution to the problem that now confronts them. Especially since for some of this group of adolescents, the indoctrination of which they are victims finds a more than favorable breeding ground in a pre-existing malaise. Fred is neglected by his parents who swear by their personal project in Ghana, Elsa is anorexic – a family heritage it seems – and Ragna is self-conscious about his physical appearance.

The soundtrack of Club Zero perhaps plays the drama card a little too much to accompany this sectarian drift. Nevertheless, this choice reinforces his point which questions the capacity of adults, parents and teachers, to intervene to protect children in a situation where all the signals are red. At a time when young people are subject to influences of all kinds and where their commitments are often wholehearted, even somewhat radical, Club Zero sounds like a call for vigilance. Jessica Hausner has created a powerful film that turns your stomach, literally and figuratively, due to the subject it addresses and its radical directorial choices.

The sheet

Gender : drama
Director: Jessica Hausner
Actors : Mia Wasikowska, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Amir El-Masry, Elsa Zylberstein, Mathieu Demy, Ksenia Devriendt, Luke Barker, Florence Baker, Samuel D Anderson, Gwen Currant
Country : Austria, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Denmark
Duration : 1h50
Exit : September 27, 2023
Distributer : BAC Films