Gaspar Noé Presents at FACT

Tom Grieve, Cinema Editor
FACT

Gaspar Noé Presents at FACT, City Centre 16 May — 13 June 2022 Tickets from £7.00 — Book now

To mark the release of Vortex, the new feature by France-based Argentine provocateur Gaspar Noé, Picturehouse at FACT have invited the director to programme a brand new film season. Gaspar Noé Presents is a personally curated selection of films, each relating to the narrative, formal and collaborative elements of Vortex.

Noé is known for his brand of challenging, extreme cinema, with films such as Irreversible, Enter the Void and Climax combining disturbing moments of sex and violence with phantomasgraphic, hallucinatory imagery. His latest stars master Italian director Dario Argento (in his first starring role) alongside Françoise Lebrun as an elderly couple beset by the terrors of dementia, disease, and the prospect of death.

It’s been touted as something of a departure for Noé, a sobering kind of horror dedicated “to all those whose brains will decompose before their hearts”. As such, the selection of films chosen for the film season at FACT is perhaps more varied than long time fans of the director might expect.

Amour

Gaspar Noé Presents starts on Monday 16 May with Dario Argento’s 1970 debut film, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage – a lurid serial killer flick which would help define the Italian giallo. Staying in Italy, Argento’s film is followed by Vittorio De Sica’s 1952 neorealist masterpiece Umberto D. (Mon 23 May), in which an elderly pensioner, alone except for his dog, strives to make ends meet during the post-war economic recovery of the 1940s.

The remaining films continue to focus on the theme of ageing. Yasujiro Ozu’s iconic 1953 Tokyo Story (Mon 30 May) is a nuanced portrait of an elderly couple ignored by their children, but embraced by their widowed daughter-in-law. While Michael Haneke’s 2012 Cannes Palme d’Or winner, Amour (Mon 6 June), takes a bleaker look at a retired couple’s battle with illness.

Noé’s season concludes with one of Hollywood’s most recognisable portraits of ageing, Billy Wilder’s suffocating 1950 Tinseltown noir, Sunset Boulevard on Monday 13 June. Starring Gloria Swanson as former silent cinema siren Norma Desmond, Wilder’s film delves into darkness and decrepitude, for a tragic tale of a forgotten star.

Gaspar Noé Presents at FACT, City Centre 16 May — 13 June 2022

Book Now

What's on at FACT

Until
ExhibitionsLiverpool
LuYang Arcade Liverpool at FACT

‘LuYang Arcade Liverpool’ at FACT takes viewers on an immersive, interactive journey across the world of games, digital identities and spirituality.

free entry

What's on: Cinema

Cinema
MIF23: Jenn Nkiru

Visionary filmmaker Jenn Nkiru turns her attention to Manchester with a brand new short film.

free entry

Culture Guides

Music

We go all in on festivals, with a round-up of everything from city-spanning giants to grassroots gems you may not know about.

Exhibitions

There's no rest for the art lover - this month brings outdoor sculpture, musings on water, political drawings and Liverpool Biennial 2023!

Classical Music

Summer's classical music calendar is filling up nicely! Read our top picks of concerts happening in Manchester and the North.

Winnie the Pooh at Manchester Opera House
Families

The sun has finally got his hat on! Enjoy our top picks of family-friendly events and activities, both indoors and outdoors.

Gerry Potter (credit Lee Baxter)
Literature

Books are big this summer, with festival readings, poetry slams, creative writing activities and famous faces all putting in an appearance.

Food and Drink

All signs point toward June being a scorcher of a month, so let’s take a look at all things summery food and drink.

Tours and Activities

From literary activities to brilliant independent shops, keep your minds and homes filled with the good stuff this month.

Theatre in Manchester
Theatre

Check out our updated guide for lively theatre festivals, rip-roaring rooftop circus and dreamy outdoor shows.