Love (Gaspar Noé)
LOVE【3D】
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
Unsimulated sex in 3D as a grief memoir; here for calibration, not recommendation.
Murphy, an American film student in Paris, wakes on a rainy New Year's Day in the small flat he shares with Omi, a young Danish woman, and their toddler son, Gaspar. There is a message from Nora, the mother of his former girlfriend, Electra. She has not heard from her daughter in three months and is frightened, because Electra suffers from depression and has tried to take her own life before. Murphy spends the day remembering, out of order.
He met Electra, an art student, and they fell for each other quickly. For two years they lived in a haze of drugs, sex and tenderness. Murphy was possessive; a police officer, Castel, told him to get over it by taking Electra to a sex club. Then Omi moved in next door, a Danish teenager and still a minor. The two adults drew her into sex to add excitement to their love life. The story treats it as an adventure; it is the sexual abuse of a minor. Murphy went on sleeping with Omi behind Electra's back. A condom broke, and Omi became pregnant. She refused an abortion, having been an unplanned child herself. When Murphy told Electra, she left him.
In the present, the film moves between these memories and the day as it passes, under Murphy's bitter voice-over: his resentment of the life he did not choose, his love for his son, his longing for Electra. No one knows what has become of her, and the film never says whether she is alive. In the last scenes Murphy weeps alone in the bath, dreaming that he is holding Electra as he once did. Then his small son, Gaspar, comes to him, and Murphy, still crying, holds the boy close.
Starring
Karl Glusmanas Murphy
An American film student in Paris who dreams of making films and cannot stop remembering the lover he lost.
Murphy’s story
Murphy wakes on New Year's Day beside Omi, the mother of his small son, bristles at her questions and is relieved when she takes the boy out. A message from Electra's mother, Nora, sends him back through their two years together: the drugs, the promise to protect each other, and his jealousy of her former lover, Noé, which lands him in a police station. With Electra he draws Omi, their teenage neighbour, into sex, and he goes on with it behind Electra's back: the sexual abuse of a minor, which the film tells as an adventure. Omi becomes pregnant, and Electra ends it. He calls Nora, who does not answer. Alone in the bath he weeps, dreaming that he is holding Electra; then his son comes to him, and he holds the boy close.
Aomi Muyockas Electra
An art student and Murphy's great love, missing for three months when the film begins.
Electra’s story
Electra is an art student in Paris, hoping to sell her paintings, when she meets Murphy and tells him that life is love. For two years they live on drugs, sex and a promise to protect each other. Murphy's jealousy of her former lover, Noé, ends in a police station and a first break-up, but they come back together. With Murphy she draws their teenage neighbour, Omi, into sex: the sexual abuse of a minor, which the film tells as an adventure. When Murphy tells her Omi is pregnant by him, she ends it and sinks further into drugs. When the film opens, her mother has not heard from her in three months and fears for her, because she has tried to take her own life before. The film never says where she is, or whether she is alive.
Klara Kristinas Omi
A Danish girl, still a minor when the couple draw her in, who is now the mother of Murphy's son.
Omi’s story
Omi is a Danish teenager, still a minor, when she moves in next door to Murphy and Electra. The couple draw her into sex, and Murphy goes on with it behind Electra's back; the film tells it as an adventure, and it is the sexual abuse of a minor. When she becomes pregnant, she refuses an abortion, having been an unplanned child herself, and keeps the baby. On the New Year's Day on which the film opens, she is living with Murphy and their small son, Gaspar, in a cramped flat, and Murphy resents her. He bristles at her questions and is relieved when she takes the boy out. When she comes home she finds him weeping in the bath, and leaves him alone; it is Gaspar who goes to his father.
Why it matters
Love is Gaspar Noé's attempt to film a love affair with nothing held back. It premiered in 3D among the Midnight Screenings at Cannes in 2015 and is known for its unsimulated sex, but the issues it raises are harder than its explicitness. It is one man's memory, told in his voice, and the women in it exist largely as he remembers wanting them. Its central turn is two adults drawing a teenage girl into sex, and the story tells that as an adventure; it is the most troubling thing in the film. Beneath the provocation lies a real subject: jealousy, desire hardening into possession, and a grief that cannot tell losing someone from being wronged by her. The film was refused a licence in Russia and reached Japanese cinemas in 2016 with an adults-only rating. What it leaves open is who owns a memory of love, and what that memory leaves out.