vortex - en

dedicated to those whose brains decompose before their hearts do.

suggested to read with mon amie la rose by françoise hardy.

vortex is definitely the most stagnant movie ever filmed by gaspar noe but not in a poor and conventional meaning of the word “stagnant”, it somehow grows and finds a base with that slowness and inertia because it simply tells a story of an old couple both very gentle and harsh way. by being almost static, movie gives a bit time and opportunity to think about for the audience. in short, vortex had to be lifeless by its nature.

like every other noe movie, deep quotes have been sprayed on us through the film but, in my humble opinion, vortex was the only movie that make audience really focus on these ideas, quotes, and maxims since it doesn’t present a really catchy and dynamic cinematography, color palette or soundtrack. especially the ones in the beginning absolutely make you think about yourself, your elders, death, your joys and griefs and quarrels.

as a person who lost both of his grandmas to alzheimer’s disease, vortex reminded me how dementia can easily ruin one’s life in a most traumatic way either to himself/herself or to the people around him/her. i’ve returned to my childhood while watching françoise lebrun via seeing every single pattern that my grandmas did, via seeing every single issue that people surronding them suffer.

noe even salutes tarkovsky with using solaris. it’s nothing but brilliant because whole concept of dreams, love and life was beautifully depicted in solaris.

i really don’t know what to say, learn or internalize from vortex. surely life is precious, life is like a dream, life is incredibly short in some sense but noe not only discuss the life, death and senility in vortex. there is also this “dream” notion of course. dario argento’s character summed and explained the cinema and cinematic experience while talking about his book’s plot.

vortex is certainly a movie that every human being should experience. it would be depressing, mind opening, suffocating and thought provoking for sure.