Light up the Void  

In May 2010, at the Cannes Film Festival, Gaspar Noé sat down for a brief but striking interview with Éric Kervern for AlloCiné, making it clear that, for him, cinema is first and foremost experienced through the body. At the time, he was promoting Enter the Void, a hallucinatory 3D journey exploring life, death, and consciousness. In this two-minute interview, Noé emphasized his obsession with immersion: “The spectator must feel before they understand,” he explained, laying the groundwork for a cinema that is bold, sensory, and deeply personal.

The conversation with Kervern allowed audiences to grasp the intent behind the provocation: filming drug use, trance, or death head-on is never gratuitous, but meant to capture human experiences rarely shown on screen. The 3D, still experimental at the time, was designed as a tool for intimacy and perception, rather than a mere gimmick. The tone was direct, sincere, and faithful to the image Noé has cultivated throughout his career.

Five years later, in 2015, the encounter with the Cannes audience for Love highlighted the continuity of his artistic vision. Sex, depicted without restraint, is not intended to shock but to convey the vulnerability of bodies and emotions. The principles he articulated in 2010—immersion, honesty, and a sensory approach—find their continuation in this daring romantic melodrama.

Thus, between Enter the Void and Love, the interview with Éric Kervern serves as a connecting thread: a glimpse into Noé’s cinema, where excess is never gratuitous and every gesture, every shot, seeks to make the audience feel the experience before they comprehend it. From hallucinatory vertigo to intimate love, the director remains faithful to his conviction: cinema must be lived, not merely observed.