Based on the J.G. Ballard novel of the same name, High-Rise is a film that takes a unique and dystopian look at society. Directed by Ben Wheatley, the film is set in a 40-floor high-rise tower block in 1975, where the wealthy residents live on the top floors, and the poor live beneath them. With everything they need in the building, the residents rarely leave and become isolated from the outside world, living in a social bubble of their own making. The building begins to malfunction, slowly at first, before everything descends into anarchic chaos. The film, as a whole, depicts a volatile analogy of the class system and societal breakdown. Even though the book was written in 1975 and the film was made in 2015, the story remains as relevant as ever.
The film adaptation of High-Rise starkly captures the essence of the 1975 J.G. Ballard novel. The book begins with he shocking introduction: “Later, as he sat on his balcony eating the dog, Dr. Robert Laing reflected on the unusual events that had taken place within this huge apartment building during the previous three months.” The film opens with the same scenario as Dr. Robert Laing (Tom Hiddleston) is shown living in the devastated high-rise, preparing his canine meal, before flashing back to three months prior, where the story of how he got to this feral stage unfolds.
What Is 'High-Rise' About?
The aesthetic of the film is bleak and dystopian in itself, with the high-rise building at the center of the story appearing dire and overbearing with its brutalist architectural style and heavy concrete structure. The washed-out palette gives the feel of a strong 1970s veneer, while its sleekness displays a hint of modernity, alluding to the story’s relevance to our current times. It’s a perfect visual balance between depicting a 1970s atmosphere but through a modern-day lens.
The building setting is more than a backdrop for the characters’ stories — it is integral to the societal allegory. Within the 40 floors is everything one needs to survive, including a place of residence, a community, a grocery store to buy food, a gym to keep up with exercise, and a swimming pool for recreation. The floor level on which a character resides relates to their social standing, while the breakdown of the amenities aligns immediately with the breakdown of morals, rules, and society itself. The beauty of Ballard’s High-Rise analogy is that it easily translates from being an allegory of something as grand as society to being about the smaller and more contained self. The high-rise building could even represent an entire city or country, and now, in the modern day, it could be a metaphor for the internet, as it contains the bulk of our daily interactions. It has proven that it, too, is not immune to moral and social collapse — further illustrating that what Ballard published in 1975 is regrettably applicable today.
'High-Rise' Has a Host of Despicable Characters
Both the book and the film follow Dr. Robert Laing who moves to the 25th floor of the high-rise and begins to interact with the various residents. Tom Hiddleston gives a restrained performance as Laing, whose neutral demeanor allows him to easily move between the floors, almost acting as a narrative guide for the audience. The fact that he so easily maneuvers between the floors, seeming like an observer rather than a part of the story, yet ends up trapped in the building with the residents is a strong commentary on passivity being no less guilty a deed than participation. It also shows how people who should know better to get out of a situation, can easily find themselves trapped by their own addiction or acceptance of skewed social constructs.
While all of the characters in High-Rise are distinct, none stands out as much as Richard Wilder, played mercilessly by Luke Evans. Wilder is a documentary filmmaker out for social justice, wanting to expose the issues in the building, and his barbaric actions and intentions eventually transform him into the film’s main villain. The residents dissolving into anarchy begins with the decline of their moral values, and no one is as amoral as him. He commits atrocious acts as the building and social structure break down, and as he does in the book, he sets out on his quest to confront the building’s architect, Anthony Royal (Jeremy Irons), who lives on the top floor. J.G. Ballard’s may not be for everyone, as his harsh and unlikable characters often find themselves in very volatile scenarios. His work is often inflammatory and provoking on the surface, but underneath it acts as a very harsh look at our world that we’ve built for ourselves — both external and internal.
'High-Rise' Explores the Human Psyche
With its three main male characters, the film alludes to a psychological analogy alongside its societal one. Richard Wilder blatantly represents the id, as he acts on instinct and desire with no thought given to the morality of a situation. Architect Anthony Royal represents the superego, overseeing and structuring the morals and systems. Dr. Robert Laing represents the ego, the neutral idea of “self” who is able to mediate between the id and the superego. This is set out clearly as Laing mediates between Wilder and Royal, and easily travels from floor to floor interacting with all of the residents.
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The building itself can also easily fit into this metaphor of the human psyche, as it acts as a person in crisis, struggling against exterior stimuli as it malfunctions. As architect Anthony Royal shows his diagrams of the tower to Robert Laing, he says, “I’ve put all of my energies into this tower. I’m its midwife, so to speak.” Laing replies, “It looks like the unconscious diagram of some kind of psychic event,” alluding to one of the main metaphors explored within High-Rise. Even though these two analogies may seem separate at first — the analogy of self versus the analogy of society — they are so heavily intertwined in the narrative and in our real lives, it’s ingenious how Ballard’s work, and director Ben Wheatley’s interpretation of it, seamlessly thread them both together.
Underneath the slick visuals and brutal violence, there is so much to unpack at the core of High-Rise. The commentary on self and society is a timeless exploration, and J.G. Ballard made an enduring and fascinating career of it through his novels. Director Ben Wheatley remains true to the Ballardian spirit of the High-Rise novel with his film adaptation, and while it is difficult to digest, the film resonates on a primal level.
High-Rise
- Release Date
- November 22, 2015
- Director
- Ben Wheatley
- Cast
- Tom Hiddleston , Sienna Miller , Jeremy Irons , Luke Evans , Elisabeth Moss , James Purefoy
- Runtime
- 112
- Main Genre
- Thriller
High-Rise is available to stream on Max in the U.S.
