A First Look at Gaspar Noe's 'Vortex' starring Dario Argento

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Courtesy of Wild Bunch

When we last saw Gaspar Noe on the big screen back in 2018, he delivered a unique spin on the then-burgeoning dance-horror subgenre with Climax.  In between he returned to short film projects including but not limited to working with none other than Charlotte Gainsbourg in Lux Aeterna.  His return to the big screen with his new feature film Vortex presents a unique opportunity by casting legendary Italian horror director Dario Argento in a central role within the picture.  Though no official press release has come forth yet, the project has been loosely described as a ‘documentary-style’ portrait of the ‘last days of an elderly couple’. 


Courtesy of Wild Bunch
 
Having seen Amour and The Father, films which presented the physical and mental deterioration that comes with aging as well as knowing Noe’s penchant for pulverizing his viewership viscerally and contextually, Vortex is shaping up to be one devastating sucker punch of a movie.  Thus far, all that exists are the poster image and a single image of a figure underneath a blanket with their head and face covered up.  Reportedly Noe was working under the gun trying to finish the film in time for the upcoming Cannes Film Festival screening. 
 
Love him or hate him, anytime France’s contemporary cinematic enfant terrible embarks on a new project people start talking.  Always pushing the envelope visually, sonically and in terms of transgression (not to mention delivering a new Noe project in a post-COVID world), Noe’s Vortex could prove to be the director’s heaviest work yet while also prominently featuring the legendary Argento in his first starring role in a film.  All in all, we at the Movie Sleuth are most excited for what comes next from Gaspar Noe, one of the world’s most wholly original and startling provocateurs making movies today.

--Andrew Kotwicki