Lux Æterna
directed by Gaspar Noé, France 2019, 51'
A short but concise trip into the viscera of filmmaking, where actors’ anguish leads to directors’ ecstasy. This satire on artistic martyrdom came, ironically, from a commercial commission. The television advertisement shot for the fashion house Yves Saint Laurent by Gaspar Noé unexpectedly expanded into an hour-long story about the backstage of a film set, which in this case resembles the red-hot pits of hell, where stars and models dressed in luxurious clothes (well, we all know what the devil wears) are prepared for the stake. And it's not only about the picturesque set design, but also about the symbolic pyres on which women burn to this day, especially those who are independent, feisty and – due to their fame or status – unattainable for the rabid arsonists. Like Charlotte (Gainsbourg) and Beatrice (Dalle), the protagonists of this cinematic passion, who in the first part of the film have a fantastic, hilarious conversation about awkward, embarrassing and absurd situations that happened to them on film sets. Some of them were like a boyfriend you’d rather forget, others paid for the humiliation with artistic satisfaction. In a short size, Lux Æterna hides a powerful charge of provocation.
[description: New Horizons]
