Interview: Director Gaspar Noé Interprets His New Film ‘Love’

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CHICAGO – The practice of addictive or obsessive love is often played out through a couple’s sexual energy, rather than their ability to get along in the day-to-day. This is explicitly portrayed in the new film “Love,” a France and Belgium film written and directed by Argentinian Gaspar Noé, and featuring American actor Karl Glusman and French actress Aomi Muyock as the couple.

The sex in the film is full frontal and at times, obviously real. But it’s not exploitative like pornography, but presented as an exposé of addictive and obsessive human bodies desiring each other. In younger adult relationships this can happen as a hormonal and biological imperative, and if the couple completely absorbs each other only through that connection, it can be damaging psychologically. Writer/director Noé explores this essentially in “Love,” and the actors bravely and explicitly play it out.

Aomi Muyock. Karl Glusman
Karl Glusman and Aomi Muyock in Gaspar Noé’s ‘Love’
Photo credit: Alchemy

In anticipation of the Chicago debut of “Love,” Gaspar Noé conducted a conference call with HollywoodChicago.com and another outlet (designated by “QUESTION”). He defends his interpretations and methods of the way he chose to film it. “Love” opens locally at the Music Box Theatre on November 6th, 2015.

HollywoodChicago.com: In the context of your film, how much do you believe the personality of a couple is based on their sex life?

Gaspar Noé: Well, the couple in the film was not building the greatest future, what you need to know about them is in their extreme carnal addiction – and the movie is not about love, but love addiction. The main couple are like junkies, in need of each other. Their first meeting – a flashback at the end of the film – contains some romance, but soon becomes just carnal.

I think most people have experienced something like that in their lives, situations where simply getting along is blinded by the addiction, and irrational jealousy emerges. The fear of losing that sexual feeling makes them more blind and more stupid. These relationships often don’t last very long because both people lose their bearings.

QUESTION: How much of the film is based on personal experiences or personal observations?

Noé: It’s based on life as I know it, part based on experience and part based on what happened to a very good friend of mine. It is a phenomenon that occurs between the ages of 25 and 40, and happens in sexual and coupling situations – we turn into emotional junkies. When that process affects your brain, you start imagining a lot of different circumstances, and your state of mind becomes altered.

HollywoodChicago.com: Which movie date from let’s say, the first 50, would you recommend the a committed couple see this film, and why?

Noé: [Laughs] Some couples survive because they’re faithful, some because they’re unfaithful, some practice don’t ask/don’t tell and some do open relationships – each couple have different realities and agreements, whether it’s verbal or non-verbal, and should approach the film accordingly.

The lead actor [Karl Gusman] invited his buddy to the film, and his buddy told him he’d never bring his girlfriend, because he didn’t want her to see him in those sex scenes. [laughs] He was jealous because he didn’t want his girlfriend to see his friend like that.

QUESTION: A great majority of the story in ‘Love’ consists of various sex scenes. Do you think romantic love can exist without sex, or do you view the two entities as inseparable?

Noé: Platonic love can be exciting, and many people fall in love with people who are inaccessible. They’re exciting, but stressful. I would say you get into another dimension when you get into a platonic context, and it can be rewarding. Most of the obsessive love I’ve heard of has been, like the film, carnal in nature.

Gaspar Noé
Writer/Director Gaspar Noé of ‘Love’
Photo credit: Alchemy

HollywoodChicago.com: How did the actors become this intimate in the process of pre-production. How did they develop enough trust to interact so intimately?

Noé: They were all very open minded, they were all very willing, and they all knew my previous films. They also knew it was a serious movie about a universal and relatable obsession. We all talked about the process, the limits of depiction and what was involved along the way. We shot those sex scenes very simply, or simulated them, but we don’t want to promote how the film was made, but what it is about.

The actors were friendly and trusting. I worked with Karl for the first time, I knew Aomi Muyock for a long time, and met Klara Kristin ten days before shooting. You can trust them by the way they approach the film as an acting job, as a piece of art and how the experience rewards them individually.

QUESTION: ‘Love’ comments upon America’s sexual repression and possessiveness [the Murphy character] versus Europe’s more sexual liberation and exploration. Do you think these cultural mindsets will receive the film differently in America versus Europe or France?

Noé: It’s not about countries, the synergy possibilities are just as wide in the United States as Europe. There is something in France and Europe that is more common regarding casual sexuality, but that doesn’t mean the French are more open minded, just maybe less religious.

“Love” has a limited release, including Chicago at the Music Box Theatre (3733 North Southport Avenue), on November 6th. See listings for other theaters and show times. Featuring Aomi Muyock. Karl Glusman, Klara Kristin and Ugo Fox. Written and directed by Gaspar Noé. Not Rated.

HollywoodChicago.com senior staff writer Patrick McDonald

By PATRICK McDONALD
Writer, Editorial Coordinator
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

© 2015 Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

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