Gaspar Noé names his favourite Dario Argento movies: “We have a very friendly relationship”
Divided by a split-screen, an elderly couple slowly drifts apart as their health deteriorates, causing chaos, confusion, and sadness. On one side of the screen is French star Françoise Lebrun, and on the other is the pioneering filmmaker Dario Argento, better known for helming movies like Suspiria and Deep Red. Directed by Gaspar Noé, Vortex is an emotional journey into ageing, death, and grief, and Argento’s performance is magnificent, helping to establish him in the film world again following a period of critical decline.
The Italian director emerged in the 1970s when the country was radically reshaping the rules of horror, and he quickly tapped into the giallo sub genre, which blended mystery, proto-slasher, sexploitation, and luscious colour palettes. After working as a screenwriter, co-writing Once Upon A Time in the West for Sergio Leone, he began directing giallo movies like The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and Four Flies on Grey Velvet.
Argento then helmed some of the most acclaimed horror movies of the 1970s, like Deep Red and Suspiria, championing neon-soaked worlds and effortlessly stylish cinematography. His work has been incredibly influential over horror – and cinema as a whole – finding a big fan in Noé.
The Argentinian-born filmmaker has been a cinephile from a very young age, once stating that he was deeply affected by movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Salo or 120 Days of Sodom when he was barely an adult. Noé’s movies have garnered significant controversy over the years, from the violent Irreversible to the incredibly explicit and erotic Love, although he is widely considered to be an incredibly talented and creative auteur.
Every Noé film, like Argento’s, are so obviously his, with both using their own distinctive techniques to bring their stories to life. While Noé’s films are often a lot more intense and disorientating to sit through, both repeatedly interrogate themes of violence and sexuality, using bright colours to illuminate these brutal and chaotic worlds.
Thus, it was only natural for Argento and Noé to collaborate – something that had been in the pipeline for many years. Talking to Little White Lies, Noé explained that he has known Argento for decades. Discussing their first meeting, he revealed, “At the Toronto Film Festival, 30 years ago when I was showing Carne, in 1991. I have a photo of that night. He told me he would be my co-producer in a future film, and of course, it didn’t happen.”
However, they “stayed friends and every year we would see each other in different festivals, and I became really close to his daughter [Asia] who, by the way, helped me a lot to convince him to play in the movie [Vortex]. We have a very friendly relationship.”
Noé then revealed his favourite Argento films: “I would say the one that I’ve seen the most is The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. But I love Deep Red, I love Suspiria, I love Inferno.” The first two, released in 1970 and 1975, respectively, are classic giallos featuring murder mysteries that invite us to join the protagonist in trying to figure out who the killer is. Deep Red, with its incredible soundtrack, POV shots, and striking use of crimson shades, is one of Argento’s most celebrated works, even influencing Halloween.
Meanwhile, Suspiria and Inferno are both part of the thematically-connected Three Mothers trilogy, with both weaving supernatural themes into their plotlines. Haunting and electrifying, these films are so distinctively Argento, what with their slightly camp acting and impressive cinematography.
While Noé has never made a horror movie quite like an Argento one, the influence of his visual style and devotion to exploring human brutality and corruption is certainly apparent in the Climax director’s work.
