Light up the Void  

In Insanely Cheerful, Gaspar Noé delivers not a music video, but four variations on the same scene: a stifling party, filmed in close-up. Each version explores a different facet of his emerging aesthetic.

The first version, the most "classic", sets the scene: a saturated apartment, handheld camera, sweaty faces and raw 90s energy. The second takes the same actions, but slightly off-center — changes of shots, varied placements — like an echo of a parallel world.

The third version is more jarring: heightened contrasts, choppy editing, and sudden insertions foreshadow the visual violence of  Irreversible.
But it's the fourth, the stroboscopic version, that establishes Noé's signature style: aggressive white flashes, silhouettes pulverized by light, and a sense of sensory urgency. A true physical experience, more than just a music video.

By playing with repetition and distortion, Noé already shows what will become his territory: a cinema where perception takes precedence over narrative, and where each variation becomes an experience in its own right.