Gaspar Noé’s “Love” is story of love and heartbreak told through a series of vignettes shown out of chronological order.
Despite its frequent silliness and the contrast between its sweet title and its explicit content, Love is not a joke. Like Noé’s other films, it has a dead-serious philosophical mission: it’s an attempt to capture or maybe even define “love”.
The film follows aspiring filmmaker Murphy (Karl Glusman) and his artist ex-girlfriend Electra (Aomi Muyock) as he mourns their long-dead, once-sexually-adventurous relationship. He now lives with another woman, Omi (Klara Kristin), with whom he has an infant son.
It’s been two years since Murphy and Electra broke up, and her mom has called him in despair, saying she hadn’t heard from her daughter in months and that the girl sounded suicidal the last time they spoke. Murphy makes an attempt to locate Electra, a drug addict, but seems to be searching for something much more. In Murphys’ mind Electra has become an object of desire. As we look back we see how their destructive relationship contributed to his own demise.
Gaspar Noé is a filmmaker known for his most controversial film Irreversible (2002), which is a lengthy, unflinching depiction of rape. Its follow-up Enter the Void (2009) is a shaggy, psychedelic trip through the murder and afterlife of an American drug dealer in Tokyo.
The Knockturnal attended the New York premiere at Village East Cinema. A party followed at Delancey Rooftop where guests enjoyed Stella and pizza. The Alchemy release is now playing.
