Director Gaspar Noé’s latest film, Vortex, challenges audiences’ limits as they embark down a thematically complex yet relatable rabbit hole of old age, losing one’s mind, and dying. The Argentinian director who resides in France was responsible for 2002’s shocking Irreversible, 2009’s Enter the Void, and 2018’s Climax. Those who enjoy braving the onslaught of trauma-inducing imagery in Noé’s previous works are in for something a bit different with Vortex.
Often experimenting with the film medium to capture his unique commentary on dreadful subject matter, Noé’s movies evoke a powerful response from audiences willing to endure his assault on the senses. While Vortex may be his least violent film to date, it is no less a torrent of heavy emotional baggage and depressing imagery as we follow an elderly couple’s battle with dementia in their final days of life. Divided into two camera angles, the film is almost entirely told on split-screen, providing a literal separation of each character’s perspective on their downward spirals. Noé once again leans on the talents of cinematographer Benoît Debie to capture this depressing and unique nightmare of a movie.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
Starring Françoise Lebrun and Dario Argento as the aging couple, the two elderly performers are being praised for their brutally honest depictions of an all-too-common condition people contend with at this stage of life. Argento is, of course, known for his incredible inventory of Italian horror films he’s been writing, directing, and producing since the early 1970s. Lebrun plays a retired psychologist struggling with prescription drug addiction. Argento imitates life as a writer/filmmaker obsessed with his acclamation of books, writings, and films, which serve as a kind of claustrophobic clutter that reinforces the film’s themes. The couple also has a son struggling with his own life issues. He is an addict trying to raise his child, which he has partial custody over, while recovering and relapsing.
While comparable to Michael Haneke’s 2012 film Amour, which follows a similar plot structure with equally depressing results, Vortex takes a more experimental approach and may be slightly more haunting.
Vortex Explores Difficult Topics in Cinema
Utopia
The realm of cinema has historically been one of the most powerful mediums to address some of life’s most difficult topics. Vortex will surely inspire conversations about elderly care, mental health, and addiction. It’s worth pondering other films which have successfully spurred meditation on issues we tend to emotionally suppress. Brendon Marotta’s 2017 documentary American Circumcision did a deep dive into the systemic issue of male mutilation that spotlights a human rights violation very few people can even begin to comprehend. Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2012 film The Master put a much-needed focus on the fallible nature of how religions are formed.
Todd Solondz’s 1998 film Happiness weaves together a tapestry of disturbing themes, including sexual addiction and child abuse, under the guise of a dark comedy. While these films are difficult and depressing to witness, they represent the sheer power of the medium. Progressing certain uncomfortable conversations is essential in order to recognize where we can make improvements in our lives and perhaps as a species in general. Film has always helped contextualize trauma in ways we can digest from a safe distance.
Experiencing a movie like Vortex in theaters is also a testament to the medium surviving the pandemic. The fact that this commercially unviable film was distributed on the level it was speaks volumes to those passionate about the medium as an intellectual forum over profit.
Vortex is Entrenched in Reality
Vortex spotlights dementia, a condition where cognitive decline is more rapid and extreme than typical aging. It can develop based on genetics or could be triggered by an injury, a stroke, or Alzheimer’s disease. The condition is particularly poignant for lifelong filmmakers who spend their careers essentially capturing consciousness, building narratives, and recording history. Filmmaker Albert Pyun, who directed 1989’s Cyborg, the 1990 version of Captain America, and countless other genre films, has been admirably public about his struggles with dementia, posting comprehensive descriptions on social media of what he is experiencing.
Some episodes can be wrought with hallucinations accompanied by a panic attack. Dario Argento captures the panic attack in his performance, but the film remains an objective outside view. With the image divided in two, the editing parses out certain cuts into an extended black frame, giving the film a clinical vibe, as if you’re flipping through a slide projection of images capturing their decline. A lack of score in some scenes also leaves the film feeling barren and real. The movie is more entrenched in reality than any of Noé’s previous works. It’s less sensational than Enter the Void or Climax and more honest. It shows what elderly people typically traverse when entering the swirling vortex where life meets death.
