I Stand Alone
Four years after Carne, Gaspar Noé directed the sequel, which can be watched independently. A disconcerting work, I Stand Alone, acclaimed by the Critics' Week Prize at the 1998 Cannes International Film Festival, is the story of a lonely man, battered by life, and his incestuous relationship with his mute daughter.
"‘Everyone has their own morality’ isn’t something you hear that much anymore; you hear much more ‘Every man for himself’ or ‘Everyone has their own shit.’ When you start arguing with someone about a movie, people often say, ‘To each their own point of view,’ which is a way of saying, ‘Everyone has their own perspective.’ It’s a kind of ‘If I keep asserting myself and you keep asserting yourself, we’re going to argue.’ ‘Everyone has their own morality’ is a bit like ‘Everyone has their own point of view.’ But when people run out of arguments to trash a movie, often the dumbest thing they can say is, ‘That movie isn’t moral.’" You get the impression that people expect a director to be a priest who determines where the demons are and where the angels are, and in life I've never encountered demons, I've never encountered angels. You just have people trying to survive. I never intended to make a moral film; I just wanted to make a film that would be useful to the whole, useful to the individual on a personal level, and that would allow you to enjoy life." GN
