No one has ever confused Gaspar Noé for a filmmaker that likes to make four-quadrant features for the whole family. And because of this, the director is well aware that his films are very divisive and push buttons as well as boundaries. So, when asked about the surprising success of his very explicit, erotic feature, “Love,” the filmmaker doesn’t think the audience’s appreciation of the film is primarily due to his directorial prowess. Instead, Noé credits the world’s sexual appetite and Netflix’s availability for the success of “Love.”
Speaking to the New York Times about the success of “Love,” which found an audience years after its 2015 debut after showing up on Netflix,” Noé thinks the primary factor for that film’s popularity is the fact that Netflix is everywhere and people are horny.
“In America and Europe, anyone who wants to jerk off and doesn’t know where to find a magazine at their parents’ home just puts on Netflix and sees the erotic movie that is recommended,” explained Noé. “So I guess the whole planet was jerking off to that movie for two, three years.”
READ MORE: Gaspar Noe Directed A Saint Laurent 2021 Short Film Starring Charlotte Rampling
The filmmaker also talked about how his films have historically not been commercial successes, outside of “Irreversible,” which he described as his “meanest, dirtiest movie.” However, he thinks if Netflix didn’t purchase the rights for “Love,” he could have made some money off of it. Yes, that means he hasn’t made anything off of the Netflix purchase, surprisingly enough.
“And the one that could have turned into a success was ‘Love,’ but it was sold to Netflix,” he said. “Everybody has seen it, but I didn’t get one cent of that. It’s like a ghost blockbuster.”
READ MORE: Gaspar Noé’s ‘Lux Æterna’ Descends Into Self-Referential Pandemonium [Cannes Review]
That said, even though he hasn’t made a lot of money off of the film, “Love” is part of the reason the filmmaker was able to secure the services of Dario Argento to star in his new feature, “Vortex.” Apparently, Noé screened “Love” with Argento to help convince him to act in the new film.
“When I started preparing this movie, he was my very first idea, but I didn’t know if he would accept or not,” said Noé about courting Argento. “And so one morning, I met him at his place, I came with this 10-page script and we watched ‘Love’ together, which was probably not a good idea. I was asking him to be in a serious movie and the same time, we were watching this erotic movie I made. In the morning! But finally, he accepted on one condition. He said, ‘Oh, I’d like the character to have a mistress.’ I said, ‘Of course.’ I like making movies with people who own their character and their dialogue.”
If you want to watch “Love,” you can do so on Netflix. And there’s no release date set for “Vortex,” but it did recently premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.