What Dario Argento retains from Gaspar Noé's "Vortex"

• An elderly couple tries to survive a devastating illness in a Paris building.

• Filmmaker Dario Argento, legend of Italian horror cinema, plays the husband between a wife played by Françoise Lebrun and a son played by Alex Lutz.

• Gaspar Noé signs with "Vortex" a poignant film far removed from his usual provocative tone.

Gaspar Noé has offered himself an unexpected actor for

: Dario Argento, the legendary director of fantastic films.

At the age of 81, he made his debut in front of the camera by giving the reply to Françoise Lebrun, the heroine of

de Jean Eustache, in the role of his wife suffering from Alzheimer's disease and Alex Lutz in that of his drug-addicted son.

“Gaspar easily convinced me to accept the role, explains Dario Argento to

.

I found it easy to act under his direction.

In a Parisian apartment, the couple is increasingly separated by the devouring illness from which the old lady is suffering.

The screen is divided into several parts, using the split-screen technique, to symbolize their progressive distancing.

A tailor-made role

"At my age, obviously, the subject speaks to me and that all the more so since I recently lost my ex-girlfriend Daria Nicolodi, someone who meant a lot in my life," says Dario Argento.

Far from the provocations for which he is renowned, Gaspar Noé this time surrounds his characters with great tenderness.

is a work as poignant as it is mature, evoking Michael Haneke's

more than

.

"I also accepted because Gaspar guaranteed me that I wouldn't have to learn a text," says Dario Argento.

Originally, the screenplay was twelve pages long!

But the character looks like me because he likes cinema.

It was easy for me to project myself.

A tasty scene confronts the director turned actor with French critics for the time of a conversation with high cinephilic content.

"Gaspar had to cut because we let ourselves be carried away by our common passion", remembers Dario Argento.

Passion above all

"Passion" is the key word of this intensely beautiful film.

“

is above all a love story, between man and woman, between parents and children.

I just had to let myself be carried away during the month and a half that the filming lasted.

I put myself at the service of Gaspar.

The viewer is taken to the guts by the ordeal that this man undergoes at the end of his life in the face of the downfall of the one he loves.

Access to this content has been blocked to respect your choice of consent

By clicking on "

", you accept the deposit of cookies by external services and will thus have access to the content of our partners

I ACCEPT

And to better remunerate 20 Minutes, do not hesitate to accept all cookies, even for one day only, via our "I accept for today" button in the banner below.

More information on the Cookie Management Policy page.

"The difference with my films is that

is realistic, which makes it very strong," says Dario Argento.

He does not see himself returning the favor to Gaspar Noé by having him play in one of his films.

"It's too difficult to direct a director," he jokes.

I wouldn't risk it!

However, he returned to the stage for the giallo

, whose main role he entrusted to his daughter Asia.

Movie theater

"In the shadow of girls" and "Vortex": How Alex Lutz manages to "surprise others and himself"

Movie theater

"Irreversible - Integral Inversion": Gaspar Noé finds his film "more traumatic" reassembled

• Movie theater

• Cinema outings

• Gaspar Noe

• Alex Lutz