In Conversation with Gaspar Noé was a special conversation event held by the Edinburgh International Film Festival, covering the controversial directors life, film making and worth ethic.
Known for Irréversible and Enter The Void, Gaspar has developed a reputation for being a provocative and extreme director. This reputation has lead to a cult like following.
Before Gaspar took the stage, seats were filled up with a queue forming an hour before the conversation started. Not only was Gaspar a joy to listen to, he told a good few funny stories that kept everyone entertained. The conversation started with Gaspar discussing his childhood, much to the audiences glee.
“2001 is the ultimate trip”
Gaspar went into great detail about his love for Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. He watched the film at 6 years old with his Mother, who he claims was a cinephile and brought him to the cinema frequently.
The experimental nature of 2001 has been a clear inspiration on Gaspar’s filmography, he acknowledged this himself, discussing his love of Kubrick and how he’s watched the film between seventy and a hundred times over his life. His love for the film even extends to merchandise. Without going into how much memorabilia he had dedicated to the film, he mentioned he had lots of posters.
Gaspar’s father, Luis Felipe Noé, is a painter who continues to paint and work at the age of 91. Gaspar spoke highly of his relationship with his Father and his admiration of his work flow. When asked if Gaspar’s workflow is similar to the that of his Father’s, he confirmed it couldn’t be more different, stating, “I like partying and I like traveling.”
During Gaspar’s childhood in Argentina, he spent a lot of time sneaking into screenings for films he was far too young to see. He was aided in this effort by his friends Uncle and Grandfather who worked at a cinema.One of the films he saw when he was young was Micheal Winner’s Death Wish, one of the original rape-revenge films.
This film would plant the first seeds the led into Gaspar’s most prolific and shocking work, Irréversible.
“Cinema is addictive”
Image credit: Studio Canal
Irréversible is Gaspar’s most infamous film, and that’s for a good reason. The film plays in reverse, following the rape and assault of a woman and how she got there. Functionally, it’s a rape revenge film flipped on its head, however the victim isn’t the focus, her boyfriend and friend are.
It’s an incredibly controversial film as many have rightfully pointed out the issues with the tunnel scene and a scene involving a fire extinguisher.
However as the films director, Gaspar defends most, if not all of the choices made within the film. When talking about the revenge aspect of the film, he acknowledged that the lack of catharsis makes the film far more uncomfortable to watch.
The technical aspects of Irréversible has helped to make it stand out within its genre. As previously mentioned the reversed story structure is a interesting touch, but Gaspar’s use of long takes, improvisation and transitional cuts are some of the films finest tricks. When talking about these techniques he acknowledged that he, “wanted everything to be a long take.”
Whilst talking about his use of violence and extreme themes, Gaspar stated that, “The real world is far more shocking than anything shown in simulated cinema.”
Gaspar’s view of horror was a topic that came up multiple times during the conversation. For a film maker that has shot some of the most horrifying images ever put to film, he doesn’t have much love for the genre, stating that, “I like psychological horror. I don’t get scared by ghosts.”
Lightning the mood after discussing Irréversible, Gaspar spoke of how on the set for the film he had given leading man Vincent Cassel MDMA. After taking some himself, he passed out, leading to his assistant director being forced to shoot a scene, all because Gaspar felt left out of the drug fueled party scene.
When Irréversible was given the Blu-Ray treatment. Gaspar re-edited the film, creating a whole new cut known as the “Straight Cut”. This cut of the film plays in chronological order and because of this many of the scenes play out differently. Gaspar even said that, “Both (cuts) are very different films.”
Gaspar ended the discussion of his filmography by touching on his experience directing the trippy Enter The Void. He then went on to discuss how he works and how different it is to traditional film making.
“You’re like a magician in front of the audience”
Image credit: Wild Bunch
The work that goes into a Gaspar Noé is different than that of your average Hollywood production. Much of this comes from Gaspar’s insistence on having improvised dialoug and a short screenplay.
When discussing the length of his screenplays, he enlightened the audience on just how short they are. “All my films are made out of screenplays that are 3, 4, 4 pages long.”
This reveal earned a low laugh from the audience, but it was the truth. Gaspar went on to describe that he avoids cluttering his screenplays with unnecessary details, like that of describing props or environments. Instead, he lays out the general story and that’s it, “The story line is all there… I feel better working that way.”
After being asked if this style alienates the cast of his films, Gaspar shrugged. He then went on to talk about how important improvisation was for his films, as it keeps dialogue and interactions realistic.
Gaspar also spent some time talking about films that he has recently fell in love with, one of the films being Guan Hu’s Black Dog, a film currently playing at the Edinbrugh International Film Festival. Another film that Gaspar loves is Lars Von Triers 2018 controversial masterpiece, The House That Jack Built.
He also thoroughly loves the work of Dario Argento, a film maker he is personally close to. Shortly after the conversation, Gapsar hosted a special showing of Argento’s finest work, Suspiria, a film that influenced both Gaspar’s use of colour in Irréversible, as well as the general vibe of his 2018 film Climax.
His relationship to Argento was expanded when Gaspar discussed his time working on his most recent feature film, Vortex. This film was a highly personal project for Gaspar, as the film follows the story of a family dealing with a loved one suffering from dementia. This was something that Gaspar went through when his mother started showing signs of dementia.
Argento plays the husband in Vortex, Gaspar praised his performance briefly during the conversation.
Gaspar was also very honest about his life struggles and experiences especially in the last few years. A few years ago, Gaspar suffered a brain aneurysm, he was lucky enough not to suffer from any long lasting damage. He talked about how this has given him a new lease on life and has caused him to rethink his substance taking and the amount he drinks.
The event ended with one last question, Will we see a new Gaspar project in the coming years, in response Gaspar replied with a simple, “Soon”.
It was truly special to listen to Gaspar speak, he is an incredibly interesting film maker that continues to push bounderies, and it’s a safe bet whatever comes next for him, his legion of fans will be there.
For more on the Edinburgh International Film Festival click here.
For more of Brigs coverage of the Edinburgh Internal Film Festival click here.
Featured image credit: Rick Loomis
Fourth year Film and Journalism student
Deputy editor
Contact - deputyeditor@brignews.com
