When it’s all said and done, Noé’s abbreviated new offering feels like something between Fellini’s “8 ½” and a sexploitation horror film from the 1970s. That sets the stage for a derivative film packed with allusions to works by directors like Jean-Luc Godard, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Federico Fellini, which climaxes as the fictional shoot descends into chaos and psychedelic visuals. When the film opens, Dalle is sharing a mostly lighthearted conversation with her leading lady, Charlotte Gainsbourg, who also plays herself, about their exploitive experiences working with male directors. The mockumentary features French femme fatale Béatrice Dalle, playing herself, as a first-time director shooting a film about medieval witch hunts. The film began as an assignment to make a 15-minute commercial for Yves Saint Laurent and ended up as a 50-minute meditation on directing, feminism and genre. Director Gaspar Noé (“Irreversible”) makes dizzying, sexy, avant-garde films, and the Cannes Queer Palm nominee “Lux Æterna” is no different.
