Vortex | The pull of the genetics of a family drug dependent
Read here the Spanish version of this article.
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An eighty-something woman woke up in the middle of the night in her room shuddering and panicked, wondering where she is. She desperately calls her sister, my mom, who goes to her house to calm her. Thank God, they are almost neighbors. My aunt wakes up the following day feeling better.
Recently, I spoke to her by telephone. Her name is Leticia and she has Alzheimer. Everyone calls her ‘Leti’. I knew she probably had the disease, but she hadn’t been diagnosed until recently. I could sense it from the conversation because she repeated things twice or even thrice.
She remembers in particular when I was in my baby cradle, and she worked as a dressmaker, as she has done more than half of her life, while taking care of me, a priceless memory of her. I love you so much and bless you, papito, she kept saying.
The family decided she can’t live alone because some unfortunate things have happened. She can’t go outside by herself because she doesn’t remember where she is going. Furthermore, I hope to be making this up, I recall my mother telling me she left gas leaking once, as Elle did, the main character of Vortex, the last movie of Gaspar Noé.
Vortex is the portrait of an elderly couple who live in France, stricken by dementia. It is also the story of a small family of four, whose members are strongly related to drug dependency in their particular way. Finally, it is the portrayal of the eternal void in the chest that opens when someone loses the love of his/her life.
Dementia, Alzheimer, memory loss and the loss of cognitive functions are dangerous in terms of survival. Elle goes outside to the grocery store, leaving no further notice, until her husband finds out and worries. She makes a cocktail of mixed drugs with her husband’s meds and trashes away his work in progress (he is writing a book about dreams and films).
Drug dependency and intergenerational trauma
However, more worrying than mental diseases was the absolute (un)consciousness of the members of the family (the elders and their son) about the drug dependency they are into. The candid and cynical way they face it. Lui (the husband) has had cardiac arrests and takes four pills for it. Elle takes several pills for her mental condition and Stéphane, their son, has been in a mental institution and takes substitutes for whatever he has.
Lui: Remember the issues I’ve had?
Stéphane: Do you take your pills?
L: Totally. Totally, every day. Four pills, always. Without them… It’s too dangerous. I’d die. And you? You take the drugs the doctor prescribed you?
S: I have substitutes, but I don’t like them. They just there’s no pain, but it’s crap.
L: Son, our house is full of drugs. And druggies. Indeed.
S: And Mum? She’s the most. The least of us. Be careful with what she takes. Don’t get mixed up. She’s taking super strong drugs.
L: I know. I know the pills are very strong. I’m very careful. It’s a life, It’s a life among drugs. We’re really almost… Slaves to drugs.
They have this conversation while laughing, maybe resigned, delivered to their fate? I don’t know. I mean, I am aware that plenty of people live their life in meds and drugs, but that doesn’t ignore the fact that it is far too depressing. The drug dependency correlates with the pull of genetics, something father and son talk about later.
L: And you, how’s the money?
S: There is none. It’s gone.
L: Really?
S: I never have any. You know that.
L: You didn’t find a good job?
S: Sure, I do a documentary or some editing stuff like that. It’s fine. I get my benefits, I do enough hours. But I spend the money.
L: It’s the same for both of us. We’re broke.
One of the features that make this film beautiful is the split screen, which shows two approaches to life from the characters, sometimes in different scenarios and sometimes in the same. One of the main characters die and the second screen, where his/her loved one used to be, fades to black.
It is meaningful and makes me think about drugs and addictions again. I have never been addicted to drugs, but I do know that losing the love of your life feels like withdrawal syndrome. That’s precisely what happens when the screen fades to black.
When I broke up with the love of my life (some might say she wasn’t because we broke up, but she is the love of my life so far) this is what happened: you go on with your life, you experience that things are even better, and you feel more comfortable with yourself because you handled it above the average.
You don’t give yourself to drink nor drugs, you exercise the most you ever did in your entire life, you cook your meals and eat well, you even begin to write about cinema. But something inside you starts to stretch and is far too painful because of getting to know yourself, something you had always avoided doing unconsciously, is not what you would call kind.
You can even feel the physical pain of the separation, of not knowing about that person anymore. You feel like a void in your chest because you lost someone who fulfilled you and life is never going to be the same.
The film is a 4.3 and despite loving it, I don’t recommend it: it’s probably the saddest film I have watched this year. I mean, if you are experiencing hardship, you might want to watch something lighter.
You can read the other reviews here.
