Love
Director: Gaspar Noé
Talent: Aomi Muyock, Karl Glusman, Klara Kristin, Juan Saavedra
Release Date: 20th November 2015
Gaspar Noé, having tackled hatred (Seul Contre Tous), revenge (Irréversible) and death (Enter the Void), now turns his hand to sentimental love, and sex – as his in-film avatar and aspiring auteur, Murphy (Glusman), puts it – with Love, a chronology-hopping 3-D experience that, for the most part, eschews the familiar violence for a more sensitive and sincere approach. The film is told in memory by Murphy, after swallowing some opium once given to him as a gift by Electra (Muyock), his ex-girlfriend with whom he is still in love. However, he now has a baby son, and an unhappy relationship, with Omi (Kristin). A voicemail left by Electra’s mother announcing that she is missing spurs a painful reminiscence that goes back to the very first day they met.
Love contains a lot of sex. It is also in 3-D, thus darker than a normal film, and predominantly statically-framed, lending a Renaissance painting vibe to some of its more tastefully lit scenes. Noé being Noé, there are no cuts, and everything is allowed to play itself out, both in terms of climaxes and, on a broader level, ideas. (The threesome, incidentally, is played over by one of the wackest, meandering guitar solos ever committed to celluloid.) But what is remarkable about this film, beyond its unsimulated scenes of intercourse, is the often painful honesty with which it depicts the other aspects of the semi-autobiographical romance at its heart: the achingly sincere ‘getting to know you’ stage, the arguments, the jealousy, the infidelity, the post-break-up insanity… it can be excruciating to watch. Having said that, it’s clear that Noé is having fun here. He even hilariously plays himself (sort of), as an effete, gallery-owning love rival. All told, Love is by no means a masterpiece, but it represents a brave and difficult emotional undertaking on the part of its director, that belies its ostensible, more erotic appeal.
Words: Oisín Murphy-Hall
