Cinema Paradiso: Vortex / Gaspar Noé

 

Vortex funciona como ejercicio metafílmico. No podemos como espectadores desligarnos de las figuras míticas del cine que representan estos dos actores, tanto Argento como un admirado cineasta icono del Giallo, y Lebrun, como actriz de films emblemáticos como La mamá y la puta de Jean Eustache, obra capital del cine francés, o de trabajos de Jean-Claude Biette o Paul Vecchiali. Es innegable la atracción que ejercen ambos personajes como entes sometidos a las reglas y efectos de la vejez, de la soledad, las enfermedades y las trampas de la memoria.

Gaspar Noé’s “Vortex,” an acclaimed meditation on mortality told entirely in split-screen, has sold to Utopia. The deal is for North American rights and comes on the heels of the film’s debut at this year’s Cannes, where it was greeted with a standing ovation and critical acclaim. 

Eric Kohn of IndieWire compared to movie to the Oscar-winning “Amour,” writing that the drama about an aging couple in a Paris apartment is “the most sensitive and accessible work from a filmmaker for whom those descriptors rarely apply.” Indeed, Noé has carved out a career for himself as something of a cinematic provocateur, directing challenging and controversial works such as “Enter the Void” and “Climax,” which have shocked and polarized viewers with their violence, psychedelic editing and edgy sex. The change in tone is partly due to the fact that “Vortex” was inspired by the deaths of some of the director’s friends and his own near-fatal cerebral hemorrhage.