Gaspar Noé
Gaspar Noé (Spanish: [gasˈpaɾ noˈe], French: [ɡaspaʁ nɔ.e]; born 27 December 1963) is an Argentine filmmaker based in Paris, France.[1][2] He is the son of Argentine painter, writer, and intellectual Luis Felipe Noé.[3]
Gaspar Noé | |
|---|---|
Noé in 2021 | |
| Born | 27 December 1963 Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1985–present |
| Style | |
| Spouse | Lucile Hadžihalilović |
| Parent |
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In the early 1990s, Noé along with his wife Lucile Hadžihalilović were the co-founders of a production company Les Cinémas de la Zone.[4] He has directed seven feature films: I Stand Alone (1998), Irréversible (2002), Enter the Void (2009), Love (2015), Climax (2018), Lux Æterna (2019), and Vortex (2021).
Early life
This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. (January 2022) |
Noé was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His father Luis Felipe Noé is of Spanish, Italian, and French-Basque descent while his mother, Nora Murphy is of Irish and Spanish descent. He has a sister named Paula. He lived in New York City for one year[when?] as a child, and his family emigrated to France in 1976 to escape the political situation in Argentina at the time. Noé graduated from Louis Lumière College in France in 1982.[5]
Artistry
His work has been strongly associated with a collection of films often described as new extreme films. Highlighting their challenging sexual and violent bodily imagery, Tim Palmer has described them as part of a cinéma du corps (cinema of the body), and a cinema of 'brutal intimacy' because of its attenuated use of narrative, generally assaulting and often illegible cinematography, confrontational subject material, a treatment of sexual behavior as violent rather than mutually intimate, and a pervasive sense of social nihilism or despair.[6]
Noé often directly addresses the audience in confrontational ways, most notably in I Stand Alone, when an intertitle warns the audience that they have 30 seconds to leave the cinema before the final violent climax. In a different way, this can be seen in Irreversible, in which the 10-minute long single-take rape sequence has frequently been read as an assault on viewers, as well as a depiction of an assault on the female character.
Collaboration
Gaspar Noé and Lucile Hadžihalilović have repeatedly collaborated with each other on film projects. Noé operated the camera and was the cinematographer for two short films directed by Hadžihalilović: La Bouche de Jean-Pierre (1996) and Good Boys Use Condoms (1998). Similarly, Hadžihalilović produced and edited Carne (1991), edited Seul contre tous (1998) and was credited as a writer on Enter the Void (2009). The creative collaboration is made clear in the comparable stylistic choices across these early films, most clearly the credit sequences and the marketing designs.
Three of his films feature the character of a nameless butcher played by Philippe Nahon: Carne, I Stand Alone and, in a cameo, Irréversible.
The music for two of his films, Irréversible and Climax, were composed by Thomas Bangalter.
In collaboration with Saint Laurent, he directed films Lux Æterna and Saint Laurent - Summer of ‘21.[7][8]
Influences
Noé stated in the September 2012 edition of Sight & Sound magazine that seeing 2001: A Space Odyssey at the age of seven changed his life, without which experience he would never have become a director.[9] A poster for the film features notably in a scene towards the end of Irreversible.
Noé also cites the 1983 Austrian serial killer film, Angst, by Gerald Kargl, as a major influence.[10]
Personal life
He is married to filmmaker Lucile Hadžihalilović.[11] Although he resides and works in France, he does not possess French citizenship.[12]
Noé suffered a near fatal brain hemorrhage in early 2020, which partly inspired the plot of his film Vortex.[13]
Filmography
Feature films
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Editor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | I Stand Alone | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2002 | Irréversible | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| 2009 | Enter the Void | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| 2015 | Love | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2018 | Climax | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| 2019 | Lux Æterna | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| 2021 | Vortex | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Short films
- Tintarella di luna (1985)
- Pulpe amère (1987)
- Carne (1991)
- Une expérience d'hypnose télévisuelle (1995)
- Sodomites (1998)
- We Fuck Alone (1998) segment of Destricted
- Intoxication (2002)
- Eva (2005)
- SIDA (2008) segment of 8
- Ritual (2012) segment of 7 Days in Havana
- Shoot (2014) segment of Short Plays
- Saint Laurent - Summer of '21 (2020)
Music videos
- Animal Collective - "Applesauce"
- Arielle – "Je Suis si Mince"
- Bone Fiction – "Insanely Cheerful"
- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – "We No Who U R"
- Placebo – "Protège-Moi"
- SebastiAn – "Love in Motion"
- Thomas Bangalter – "Outrage" and "Stress" (both from the Irréversible soundtrack)
- SebastiAn – "Thirst"
Other production credits
| Year | Title | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| 1985 | El exilio de Gardel (Tangos) | Assistant Director |
| 1988 | Sur | |
| 1996 | La Bouche de Jean-Pierre | Cinematographer |
| 1998 | Good Boys Use Condoms | Camera Operator |
In 2013, Noé shot the cover art for American singer-songwriter Sky Ferreira's debut album Night Time, My Time.
Reception
Many of Noé's films were polarizing or controversial with viewers due to their inclusion of graphic scenes of violence and sexual violence. I Stand Alone, Irreversible, Enter the Void, We Fuck Alone, and Climax were all considered controversial for their challenging sexual and violent imagery.
Irreversible
Irreversible was hugely divisive amongst critics with journals such as Sight and Sound (UK) and Positif (France) allowing critics to openly voice their disagreements about the film.[14][15][16] It caused substantial outrage in many countries for its central scene of rape, filmed in a single take and lasting nearly ten minutes in total, with some critics comparing it to pornography because of its length and the use of a static camera,[17][18] as well as considering the film as a whole to be deeply homophobic for its hellish portrayal of a gay S&M club.[19] On the other hand, it was also frequently praised for its brutal portrayal of the horrors of rape, and its implicit challenge to viewers of the scene. Eugenie Brinkema, for instance, describes Irreversible as "ethically, generically, subjectively" disruptive: "the rape [...] is real, it is private, it is contained – it is insufferably present. [...] it interrogates vehicles of receptivity and the power and violence done to bodies by bodies".[20]
Awards
| Year | Award | Category | Title | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Avignon Film Festival | Prix Tournage | Carne | Won |
| Cannes Film Festival | SACD Award | Won | ||
| 1992 | Fantasporto | Best Film | Nominated | |
| 1994 | Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival | Minami Toshiko Award / Critic's Award | Won[21] | |
| 1998 | Cannes Film Festival | Mercedes-Benz Award | I Stand Alone | Won |
| Namur International Festival of French-Speaking Film | Golden Bayard | Nominated | ||
| Molodist International Film Festival | Best Full-Length Fiction Film | Nominated | ||
| Sitges Film Festival | Best Film | Nominated | ||
| Sarajevo Film Festival | FIPRESCI Prize | Won | ||
| Sitges Film Festival | Best Screenplay | Won | ||
| Stockholm Film Festival | Bronze Horse | Nominated | ||
| 1999 | Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema | Best Film | Nominated | |
| 2001 | Boston Underground Film Festival | Best of Festival | Won | |
| 2002 | Cannes Film Festival | Palme d'Or | Irréversible | Nominated |
| Stockholm Film Festival | Bronze Horse | Won | ||
| 2004 | Bodil Awards | Best Non-American Film | Nominated | |
| 2009 | Cannes Film Festival | Palme d'Or | Enter the Void | Nominated |
| Sitges Film Festival | Special Prize of the Jury | Won | ||
| Best Film | Nominated | |||
| 2018 | Cannes Film Festival | Art Cinema Award | Climax | Won |
| Sitges Film Festival | Best Film | Won | ||
| 2022 | Dublin International Film Festival | Best Film | Vortex | Won |
| San Sebastián International Film Festival | Zabaltegi-Tabakalera Prize | Won | ||
| Ghent International Film Festival | Grand Prix for Best Film | Won | ||
| International Istanbul Film Festival | Golden Tulip for Best Film / FIPRESCI Prize | Won |
References
- ^ Ransome, Noel (28 February 2019). "French Director Gaspar Noé on America's Fear of the Penis". Vice. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
- ^ "Exclusive Q&A: Director Gaspar Noe's View of The Cusp of Death As Detailed in Enter The Void". Huffington Post. 31 October 2010.
- ^ PremiereFR (7 May 2010). "Enter the Void : Gaspar Noé réagit aux critiques" (Video upload). Youtube. Google, Inc. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
- ^ "earwig-dossier-de-presse-anglais.pdf" (PDF).
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Palmer, Tim (2015). Irreversible. London; New York, NY: Palgrave. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-230-33697-1.
- ^ Palmer, Tim (2011). Brutal Intimacy: Analyzing Contemporary French Cinema, Wesleyan University Press, Middleton CT. ISBN 0-8195-6827-9.
- ^ Debruge, Peter (4 May 2022). "'Lux Æterna' Review: Gaspar Noé Takes Audiences on a Witchy, Twitchy Backstage Tour". Variety. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
- ^ "Saint Laurent's "Summer of '21" Feels the Love". Vanity Fair. 30 December 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
- ^ "The 2012 Sight & Sound Directors' Top Ten". Sight & Sound: 69. September 2012. unknown ID 9-770037-480090. from the original on 11 August 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
- ^ . Vice. 13 October 2010. Archived from the original on 10 October 2014. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
- ^ "The Auteurs: Gaspar Noé". Cinema Axis. 29 August 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
- ^ Leigh, Danny (13 November 2015). "Interview: Gaspar Noé". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 11 December 2022. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
Noé still doesn't have a French passport but after his parents fled the Argentine junta when he was 13, he finds real meaning in his adopted country's free speech
- ^ Zigler, Brianna (27 September 2021). "Vortex is an Absorbing, Despairing Portrait of Aging". Paste. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
- ^ Kermode, Mark; James, Nick (2003). "Horror Movie". Sight and Sound. 13 (2): 20–22.
- ^ Rouyer, Philippe (2002). ""Irréversible": Bonheur perdu". Positif: 497–498.
- ^ Valens, Grégory (2002). "Irréversible: Irresponsible". Positif: 497–498.
- ^ Paris, Barry (11 April 2003). "'Irreversible' gives new meaning to sick and repulsive". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 18. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
- ^ Felperin, Leslie (2003). "Reviews: Irreversible". Sight and Sound. 13 (3): 46–48.
- ^ Edelstein, David (2003). "Irreversible Errors: Gaspar Noé's Cinematic Rape". Slate Movies. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Brinkema, Eugenie (2004). "Irréversible: A review". Scope.
- ^ . yubarifanta.com. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 19 September 2009.
Sources
- Frey, Mattias. (2016). Extreme Cinema: The Transgressive Rhetoric of Today’s Art Film Culture. Rutgers University Press.
- Horeck, Tanya, & Kendall, Tina. (Eds.). (2011). The New Extremism in Cinema: From France to Europe. Edinburgh University Press.
- Palmer, Tim. (2011). Brutal intimacy: Analyzing Contemporary French cinema. Wesleyan University Press.
- Palmer, Tim. (2015). Irreversible. Palgrave Macmillan.
- Russell, Dominique. (Ed.). (2010). Rape in Art Cinema. Continuum.
External links
- Gaspar Noé at IMDb
- Le Temps Détruit Tout : Unofficial & International website about Gaspar Noé
- Interview with Gaspar Noé about 'Enter the Void' Part 1 (Spanish)
- Interview with Gaspar Noé about 'Enter the Void' Part 2 (Spanish)
- 2014 Bomb Magazine discussion between Matthew Barney & Gaspar Noé 15 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine