Gaspar Noé
Since the release of his breakout film Irréversible in 2002, Gaspar Noé (b. 1963) has been labeled the principal provocateur of twenty-first-century French cinema. While many of the filmmaker’s complex and daring works have been reduced by his critics to their (innumerable) depictions of hallucinogens, violence, and unsimulated sexual intercourse—the latter rendered into vertiginous 3D with his film Love—other viewers have remained in steady awe of Noé’s dizzying camerawork, immersive visuality, and expressive editing. Noé’s cinema greets the short attention spans of digital life with works of extremities and endurance for performers and spectators alike.
This first-of-its-kind collection of interviews documents Noé’s engagement with the feverish reception of his work and received ideas about his life and politics. Collecting conversations with critics, scholars, and artists, including fellow directors Matthew Barney, Abel Ferrara, and Harmony Korine, Noé speaks about his process as a writer, director, cinematographer, and editor. Also examined are his engagement with developing film technology and his fascination and indebtedness to past filmmakers such as Pier Paolo Pasolini, Jean Eustache, Stanley Kubrick, and Sam Peckinpah. Noé discusses life in Buenos Aires and emigrating to France, his use of irony and melodrama, as well as his interest in documentary practices. Throughout, Noé explores his continuing examination of faith and secularism, body and mind, and the politics of spectatorship. Editor Geoffrey Lokke’s introduction provides a close reading of Noé in conversation, assessing what has changed over the years in terms of the filmmaker’s aesthetics and presentation of self, as well as what Noé is reticent to articulate about his life and art.
Geoffrey Lokke is a PhD candidate in theatre and performance at Columbia University. His work has appeared in such publications as PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, TDR: The Drama Review, and Textual Cultures.
Introduction
Chronology
Filmography
Living Is a Selfish Act: An Interview with Gaspar Noé
Mitch Davis / 1998
Gaspar Noé: A Playful Mise-en-scène
Philippe Rouyer / 1998
“The Rape Had to Be Disgusting to Be Useful”
Geoffrey Macnab / 2002
“Time Destroys All Things”: An Interview with Gaspar Noé
David Sterritt / 2002
Is Gaspar Noé’s Irréversible Inexcusable?
Gerald Peary / 2003
Gaspar Noé Meets Hubert Sauper
Hubert Sauper and Jan-Willem Dikkers / 2006
Les enfants terribles: Gaspar Noé versus Harmony Korine
Harmony Korine and Nick Bradshaw / 2010
“I Never Get Killed in Dreams, but I Often Kill in Dreams”: An Interview with Gaspar Noé
Philip Concannon / 2010
Gaspar Noé Interview: Enter the Void, Illegal Substances, and Life after Death
Ryan Lambie / 2010
Gaspar Noé on 7 Days in Havana: Interview
James Mottram / 2012
Seul contre tous: Interview with Gaspar Noé
Laurent Aknin / 2014
Matthew Barney and Gaspar Noé
Matthew Barney / 2014
Gaspar Noé
Jessica Piersanti / 2015
Interview: Gaspar Noé on Love, Sex, Masturbation, and More
Gary Kramer / 2015
Abel Ferrara with Gaspar Noé
Abel Ferrara / 2015
Gaspar Noé Censure(s)
Mathieu Morel and Léolo Victor-Pujebet / 2017
Interview with Gaspar Noé
Pip Chodorov / 2018
Interview: Gaspar Noé Talks Climax
Ulkar Alakbarova / 2019
Gaspar Noé: Director
Frédéric Polizine and Alexis Veille / 2020
Inside Gaspar Noé’s Head
Marc Godin and Laurence Rémila / 2020
Gaspar Noé: An Exclusive Interview on Creativity and Life
Ronit Pinto and Sam C. Long / 2021
Gaspar Noé: Interview with the Director of Vortex
Juliette Reitzer / 2021
Gaspar Noé on Vortex
Sonia Shechet Epstein / 2021
Event Horizon: Gaspar Noé on His Devastating End-of-Life Drama, Vortex
Scott Macaulay / 2022
Interview: Gaspar Noé on the Split-Screen Spectacles of Lux Æterna and Vortex
Marshall Shaffer / 2022
Gaspar Noé and Françoise Lebrun on Their Dementia Psychodrama, Vortex
Alex Denney / 2022
Additional Resources
Index
