The Most Controversial Movie of the Year Is Here. It’s Called ‘Yes’

It starts not with a bang, but a bacchanalia that would make Caligula blush. People dressed to the nines are gyrating and grinding away to La Bouche’s “Be My Lover,” including several uniformed soldiers and a rabbi. A woman in a shiny, skimpy dress kisses random partygoers before dancing on a table. A man fellates a baguette. Soon, people are dunking his head into a series of punch bowls.

Drunk, he stumbles backward into a pool. A crowd gathers. The woman strips and jumps in, pulling him out; revived, he begins engaging in a sing-off with military officers. He’s screaming the la-da-da-dee, da-da-da-daah hook of the dance anthem. The officers are bellowing “Love Me Tender” in a manner that resembles a patriotic fight song. Just let them win, the woman wisely counsels.

Eventually, the soiree ends. The couple will spend the remainder of the early morning hours in a threesome with an elderly society matron, sucking on her earlobes. Right from the jump, Yes — the latest shot fired from writer-director Nadav Lapid — wants to slap you awake. It...