The movie Gaspar Noé has seen more than any other: “Without this film I would never have become a director”
Watching a Gaspar Noé movie is like loading up on a random concoction of intense and psychotropic drugs and throwing oneself off of a moral canyon. There’s a certain element of fear of the unknown when it comes to Noé, and he’s widely celebrated for being one of contemporary cinema’s most notorious provocateurs.
There’s the sickening nature of his 2002 experimental thriller Irreversible, starring Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel, the absolute trip that is Enter the Void, along with the alluring and tantalising Love, Climax and Vortex. Quite simply, Noé has a vision that he has always stuck to and has delivered time and time again some of the most unique films that could only ever be his.
In a feature for the BFI, several directors named their favourite movies of all time, which generated a list of what should be considered some of the best films ever made. When Noé submitted his nomination, he included a personal note about the film that ended up coming out in second place, one of the most admired science fiction movies of all time.
“This is the film I’ve seen more than any other in my life. 40 times or more,” Noé said of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. “My life altered when I discovered it when I was about seven in Buenos Aires.” 2001 is a true masterpiece of cinema, co-written by Kubrick with legendary science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke.
Narratively, Kubrick charts the journey of humankind from club-wielding apes to space-faring voyagers and artificial intelligence creator demi-gods, all the while being accompanied by a strange alien monolith. 2001 is rightfully championed for its glorious use of special effects and its phenomenal philosophical themes and insight.
The effect of the movie on Noé was so great; it was almost drug-like in nature, with him noting, “It was my first hallucinogenic experience, my great artistic turning-point and also the moment when my mother finally explained what a foetus was and how I came into the world. Without this film, I would never have become a director.”
In a separate feature with Rotten Tomatoes, Noé further reiterated his admiration for Kubrick’s classic science fiction movie and remembers “the shock of being transported to another dimension,” again likening watching the film to a psychedelic drug trip. “Going through the gate of light as if I’d taken a huge dose of acid,” he said, “like discovering other dimensions.”
“When I came out from that movie, I felt someone had injected me with something in the brain,” the director added. “ I was obsessed with going to see the end of 2001. I liked the ape scenes, I like the beginning, but I just wanted to go again and again to see the movie, to go through the Stargate.”
