Awesome Directors, Awesome Films: Gaspar Noé

Gaspar Noé is, like Lars Von Trier, one of those film directors that pisses a lot of people off. They are more infamous than famous for their shocking films that seem to disgust more than entertain.

This doesn't mean they're not entertaining. I mean, if what you get from the word "entertaining" is showgirls and glitter then that's not what I meant.

'Irréversible' is Noé's most infamous film before his most recent one, 'Enter the Void'. The story is told in reverse and it's known for its controversial 9 mins long rape scene that ends in a brutal beating. I know that a lot of women walked out on this film in Cannes when it was first shown, and I find it shameful that they did.

It is very difficult to watch, and it made me feel physically sick, but I forced myself to watch it. Rape happens to a lot of men and, more so, women. The fact that it has been, and continues to be, used as a strategic tool in many wars shows how it is something that is of vast significance.

This is why I applaud Noé- because he shows us, in all its brutality, how LE TEMPS DETRUIT TOUT ("Time Destroys Everything"),  the truths of humanity, unedited, in all its raw reality. You may ask, why show a rape that lasts nine minutes? I'd like to take this opportunity to quote Vincent Cassel: "When you see violence in movies in general, it's very quick and painless, which isn't what it's like. This is what it's like."

This isn't Hollywood. This isn't a couple of aesthetically pleasing people admitting their love for each other after 2 weeks. This isn't mad luck on the verge of ridiculous. This is not a happy ending.

This is why you need to watch this film and then go and see "Enter the Void".

Be prepared to use your brain. You're not going to get a lot of images out of your head, and believe me, you will have a sick feeling in your stomach everytime you remember particular scenes but hey, look at it this way; at least you're not being lied to. As Cassel, one of the actors of the film says, "it shows us the animal in us. The problem with the audience is that they don't want to see the animal that's in all of us. Gaspar's film forces us to see that animal".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/sep/23/enter-the-void-review