Directed By Gaspar Noe

Starring – Dario Argento, Francoise Lebrun, Alex Lutz

The Plot – A retired psychiatrist (Lebrun) with dementia and a struggling author (Argento) with a heart condition live their final days together in an apartment.

This film is currently not rated

Vortex – Official Trailer (2022) Dario Argento, Françoise Lebrun – YouTube

POSITIVES

One of the reasons why Noe is my favorite foreign director is his rare but expressive abilities to conjure stimulating style and profound substance for an often times mind-blowing engagement, and “Vortex” is certainly no different in this regard. Once again, Noe has his finger on the pulse of humanity, articulating a devastating and crippling condition within dementia that somehow feels every bit as effective as how it was illustrated in my favorite film of 2021, “The Father”, but creatively diverse in conjuring a pallet of three-dimensional emotions through the eyes of some deeply flawed, but above all else, human characters. The film is ripe with honesty and maturity in the way it conveys debilitation inside of the mental conflict, eviscerating identity and routine as two of the more overwhelming tragedies in the ways we come to understand both of the protagonists. This can be felt the loudest between a loving introduction, which depicts the couple and their apartment in a clean and prosperous state, and everything after, with the claustrophobic clutter and cold candor between them permeating something lifeless for the daily occasion. Because Noe illustrates who they were before the condition, the tragedy of loss and change feels all the more evident, immediately cementing an air of apathy to each of them within the first ten minutes of the engagement. On the topic of the aforementioned stimulating style, Noe once again embraces the unorthodox, this time within a combination of split-screen storytelling and medium format framing that follows each of them faithfully throughout their respective paths, conveying an entirely different reality based entirely on the perspective. The craft itself is pulled off remarkably, especially considering two cameras are being used at conjoined scenes when the characters are together. The use itself becomes all the more impressive when you consider how it was even constructed in the first place, with both cameras essentially obscuring visibility throughout their many complex movements and vantage points. In addition, Noe’s familiarity becomes apparent in the blinking editing that established itself initially in 2009’s “Enter the Void”, but here feeling all the more valued in the way it artfully crafts repetition inside of the passage of time. Noe also pulls double duty once more as the movie’s screenwriter, this time necessitating improvisation among the characters’ dialogue, which inspires all of the personalities in their reach. Aside from Noe’s commanding hand, the film is acted exceptionally, both from longtime iconic horror director Dario Argento, and especially Francois Lebrun, whose vulnerability inside of frailty combines fear and confusion in ways that are subtly enacted to the dynamic of every scene. Lebrun’s facial registries convey so much with so little, reading like a map of the internal agonies and advanced aging that have since defined her life, and likewise the gregariousness and disregard supplanted by Argento’s Lui concocts a cold but consistent rendering of marital grief that serves to feed his consequential loneliness, with consequences that only interest him when there’s something at cost for his character. Together, their chemistry or lack thereof, boldly reflects that of a relationship whose best days are long behind them, but still the kind surrounded by the endless memories of an intricately tight set design that capably elicit the air of their once undying love.

NEGATIVES

Even with so many elements of production and creativity working towards the beneficial returns for “Vortex”, a couple of faulty aspects keep this from ever reaching its truest potential among the best that Noe has produced. The first is a consistent problem in all of his films, in that it’s paced egregiously towards being self-indulgent. Part of me can easily forgive this problem if the minutes donated for its cause constantly contain something meaningful for the merit, however most of the experience here meanders somewhere in the middle of stunted and sedated, until its next big development arrives, leaving more than a few trying moments of impatience inside of its nearly two-and-a-half hour run time that in reality feels like an hour of actual story motions. Besides the perils of the pacing, the third act is condemned to being the weakest link, thanks in balance to a tremendously major plot hole and confusing closing moments that obscure the clarity of the coherence. Around this time, the logic of character actions and corresponding consequences begins to stretch itself thin, leading to an emotionally triggering series of closing sequences, yes, but the kind that definitely would’ve benefited further from at least explaining how certain aspects were even possible. It’s never been Noe’s style as a screenwriter to dig deeper at fascinating elements that may invoke with them a sense of disbelief from the audience, but for my money some more time fleshing out what feels like a rushed climax could only help your cause, in turn omitting some of the overt leaps in logic that only served to move the plot across the finish line.

OVERALL
Like all of Gaspar Noe’s films, “Vortex” is another emotionally grueling, cinematically dazzling dissection of life’s vulnerable journey, but this time with an element of compassion that has been missing from the many victims of his predecessors. Though the film is still a bit hefty in its bloated run time, audience patience leads to spiritually profound sentiments in spades, cementing once more for Noe a film that is every bit entertaining as it is important.

My Grade: 8/10 or B