Noise
Focused on the links between music and images, Assayas’s documentary is a remarkable, original recording of a concert from 2005. The director received carte blanche from the Art Rock Festival in Saint-Brieuc to create his own program. He brought together musicians he had collaborated with on a regular basis, including Jeanne Balibar (Late August, Early September, Clean), Metric (Clean), Joana Preiss (Late August, Early September, Clean, Boarding Gate), Marie Modiano (Demonlover) and the members of Sonic Youth, this time appearing as Mirror/Dash and Text of Light. Shot on two stages during a single night using small digital cameras, Noise remains one of the most fascinating visual-musical experimental films ever made. For Assayas, work on the documentary was more than just a pretext to “filming friends who belong to my world,” as he said in an interview with O Magazine. Noise also has a hidden connection with the director’s feature films. Music has an intense presence in Assayas’s films, determining the mood, like in Disorder, Cold Water and Something in the Air, resonating the emotions of the characters, building tension, dictating the rhythm of the images.
Olivier Assayas
Born in Paris in 1955, Olivier Assayas is the son of screenwriter Jacques Rémy (whose real name was Raymond Assayas). It was at his father’s side that Olivier took his first steps in the industry while still a teenager. He began making his first short amateur films a little while later. At the same time, he launched his career as a film critic, writing for the famous Cahiers du cinéma. He made his full-length debut with Disorder in 1986. Since then, he has made a number of films that have ensured him a position as one of the most important directors in European cinema. His most acclaimed works include Irma Vep, Something in the Air (an award winner for best screenplay at the Venice Festival) and Clouds of Sils Maria.
Selected filmography
1986 Bezład / Désordre / Disorder
1989 Zimowe dziecko / L’enfant de l’hiver / Winter’s Child
1991 Paryż się budzi / Paris s’éveille / Paris Awakens
1993 Nowe życie / Une nouvelle vie / A New Life
1994 Zimna woda / L’eau froide / Cold Water
1996 Irma Vep
1998 Koniec sierpnia, początek września / Fin août, début septembre / Late August, Early September
2000 Ścieżki uczuć / Les destinées sentimentales / Sentimental Destinies
2002 Demonlover
2004 Czysta / Clean
2007 Przejście / Boarding Gate
2008 Pewnego lata / L’heure d’été / Summer Hours
2010 Carlos (TV series)
2012 Po maju / Après mai / Something in the Air
2014 Sils Maria / Clouds of Sils Maria
2016 Personal Shopper
2018 Podwójne życie / Doubles vies / Non-Fiction