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Vice: You have a reputation as being a director who people either love or hate. Gaspar Noé: Here at Cannes I’m used to people screaming at my movies. When it didn’t happen with Enter the Void, I thought, “This is weird.” I was shocked that nobody was booing or whistling! But then I read the reviews of the movie and some people really hated it and I thought, “Oh, we’re OK then!”

Why did you decide to shoot this film in Tokyo? Gaspar Noé: Because Tokyo is like a huge pinball machine! It’s both a scary and an extraterrestrial place. I wanted to find a city that looks like Tron, and nowadays that’s either Las Vegas or Tokyo. I don’t like Vegas—it’s full of bad whiskey and dirty money—so I thought it would be much better to go to a real city, Tokyo. It’s also a place where people are obsessed by sex.

After the first 20 minutes, the film is seen through the eyes of the main character, who has died and is in the afterlife. Do you believe in reincarnation? Gaspar Noé: Maybe I believed in God when I was a teenager. Back then I was reading lots of books about near-death experiences and the soul. But now I think life is a one-shot thing. After you have gone, only other people can still enjoy your life. Some people are so afraid of having a meaningless existence that they make themselves think they will have a second chance at life after they die. That is how all these religions work: by claiming there is going to be life after death and that it will be amazing—but only if you behave like a lamb before you die.

A lot of people say your films are pure shock value and that you’re taking the piss out of the audience. What are you actually trying to say with this new film? Gaspar Noé: It’s all about trying to establish that the main character’s own life was not totally meaningless. And it’s also about the experience of one small mammal among millions of mammals. Very frequently what a life boils down to is a single, very traumatizing experience.

This film seems less aggressive than your previous work. Gaspar Noé: I used to be very crazy. But then I reconsidered my own patterns. The truth is that you can seriously not do a movie on drugs. It takes so much energy to make a movie that you have to be totally in your right mind. I’ve been very clean lately besides alcohol. The next thing I should stop is vodka. I have problems going to a party and not drinking one glass after another after another…

Read the rest at Vice Magazine: GASPAR NOÉ – Vice Magazine Go to VBS.TV for updates on The Vice Guide to Film. time with Gaspar.