Enter the Void

Review

ENTER THE VOID has been out for a while now. Most people already know what it is about. Most importantly, people already know what Gaspar Noé is about. The French filmmaker who shocked audiences with his gruesomely realistic (and controversial) IRREVERSIBLE, returns with a second feature film that is not any less contentious. Noé’s films are not for everyone, if you didn’t already know. His films isolate a majority of the cinema going crowds, while the ones who go see his movies know exactly what to expect.

Noé’s ENTER THE VOID follows the story of Oscar (Nathaniel Brown), a teenager with a colourful life. After the loss of his parents in a tragic accident, Oscar is separated from his sister, Linda (Paz de la Huerta). Since his separation from Linda, Oscar has become obsessed with seeing her again. Arriving in Japan, with a promise for a better life, Oscar manages to raise money through drug dealing to get Linda to join him. Everything falls apart from there.

Inspired by the Tibetan Book of the Dead, ENTER THE VOID has an informal narrative structure. The film is essentially divided into a few separate segments, each functioning in very different ways to create a very unique, overwhelming experience. The first half of the film works traditionally, at least in a way that Noé usually works. Through a set of non-linear events, we learn of Oscar’s history and get to know everybody in his life. The section ends with Oscar’s death. Then the film actually begins. We travel in and out of time as we learn more about Oscar’s past and his relationships. While the film never stops treating Oscar and Linda as real characters, it begins to be less specific and starts to investigate more philosophical plots. As the film plows through its lengthy 160 minutes of run time, characters and places begin to turn into symbols in a not so subtle way.

Technically, ENTER THE VOID is amazing. Everything is perfect: the colours, the way it is shot and the way everything works together to create a disorienting cinematic experience. After IRREVERSIBLE, it is obvious that Gaspar Noé is a filmmaker who is very savvy technically and very conscious about the worlds that he creates in his films. Together with cinematographer Benoît Debie, Noé has perfected the camera techniques that were first introduced in IRREVERSIBLE. Rotating cameras that travel across rooms and exteriors blend the geography of the world in ENTER THE VOID together, creating an eerie, vibrant labyrinth of never-ending tragedies.
As I write this, weeks after seeing the movie for the first time, I still don’t know whether I really like ENTER THE VOID or not. My encounter with the film reminds me of the power of cinema. ENTER THE VOID is really not something that you should see at home, or in any other context that is not a real movie theater. It will simply not work. At the same time, I am not completely convinced that the 160 minutes of run time were used efficiently. When it hit the 125th minute, I felt that the movie became too indulgent — too convinced in itself. Noé is basically dealing with similar themes that you’d find in IRREVERSIBLE. However, I feel that IRREVERSIBLE was more efficient in delivering a more felt point. Some may argue that ENTER THE VOID thrives in its meandering structure — that the film would not be true to itself if it didn’t. To an extent this is true, but I’d argue that Aronofsky explored a similar narrative more successfully in THE FOUNTAIN.
I appreciate what ENTER THE VOID is. It’s a gorgeous film and a very unique entity that carries itself very proudly. But I just can’t sincerely recommend somebody else to sit through the film.