Photo/Laura Bregman
In Gaspar Noé's 2002 film Irreversible, several movie posters hang on the walls of Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel's apartment. The camera lingers on a rare 30x40 poster from the 2001: A Space Odyssey "Starchild" campaign that hangs over the bed. Above the dresser, next to some family photos, is the gruesome 1956 half sheet for Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing. These are posters rarely seen outside of serious collections.
It turns out Gaspar Noé is a serious collector. In Noé’s new film Vortex, dozens of posters from his collection adorn the walls of Dario Argento and Françoise Lebrun's apartment (rather than risk damaging the originals during production, Noé had high quality reproductions made of every poster shown in the film). Noé’s posters bear the aura of loving curation, they’re a visual shorthand that reveals the couple’s past and present, a sort of autobiography composed of paper ephemera as it were.
After I saw Vortex at the New York Film Festival last year, I asked Gaspar if he’d share some of his favorite movie posters in his collection and he hit me back with some eye-popping picks. Here they are in chronological order.
Un Chien Andalou |
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Slicing up eyeballs on this storyboard-like French half grande for the first theatrical release in France of Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali's surrealist classic Un Chien Andalou in 1968. Noé ends his new film Lux Æterna with a quote by Luis Buñuel. |
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M |
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Extremely rare 1931 German poster for Fritz Lang's masterpiece, measures 38x56 inches. A holy grail for horror collectors. There's another version with credits. Kino Lorber used a variation of this design for their 2012 re-release poster. I spied a few M posters in Vortex, including a pair of Italian fotobustas, and the original Polish poster from 1964. |
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Citizen Kane |
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The 1956 re-release one sheet for the Orson Welles classic, a great example of when an early re-release one sheet is superior to the first release. The 1991 re-release one sheet reprises this design. |
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Los Olvidados |
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Whoa. I'd never seen this wild 1964 first release Spanish poster for one of my favorite Luis Buñuel movies. It's unlike any other poster for Los Olvidados I've ever seen! Artwork by Jano. |
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Psycho |
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Ultra-rare 1960 U.K. quad for Alfred Hitchcock's horror classic. Hitchcock appears on many of his own poster campaigns, directly addressing audiences, admonishing them to show up on time. Like Hitchcock, Noé often breaks the fourth wall in his films. |
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Peeping Tom |
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Ultra-rare 1960 U.K. double crown for the film that got Michael Powell cancelled. This proto-teaser poster eschews the title of the movie entirely and only includes a tagline. There's another version of this poster that includes the title. |
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A Woman Is a Woman |
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Rare 1961 U.K. double crown for Jean-Luc Godard's musical with Anna Karina and Jean-Paul Belmondo. This poster appears prominently in Vortex. |
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Breakfast at Tiffany'sBruno Rehak |
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Rare 1961 German A0 for the Blake Edwards comedy with Audrey Hepburn. Artwork by Bruno Rehak. |
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What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? |
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Insane 1962 U.K. quad for the Robert Aldrich classic with Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. |
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ContemptGiuliano Nistri |
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Striking 1963 Italian quattro foglio with artwork by Giuliano Nistri for Jean-Luc Godard's New Wave classic with Brigitte Bardot. Mild Vortex spoiler: Noé uses music from Contempt in a key scene in Vortex (George Delerue's Theme de Camille). |
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Paris Erotika |
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Beautiful 1963 Italian due foglio for José Bénazéraf's survey of Parisian strip clubs. |
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2001: A Space OdysseyRobert McCall |
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Gaspar has one of the most exhaustive 2001: A Space Odyssey collections I've ever seen. His collection includes this ultra-rare 3D lenticular A1 size poster with Robert McCall art, created specifically for Cinerama screenings of the film. MGM also issued a smaller size lenticular standee, and a lenticular postcard. |
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BarbarellaMario De Berardinis |
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Tripped-out 1968 Italian due foglio with Mario De Berardinis art for Roger Vadim's sci-fi classic with Jane Fonda. One of the rarest posters for Barbarella. |
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The Bird with the Crystal PlumageP. Franco |
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Original 1970 Italian quattro foglio for Dario Argento's directorial debut. |
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Don't Deliver Us from Evil |
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Original 1971 U.K. quad for Joël Séria's film adaptation of the 1954 Parker–Hulme murder case. Peter Jackson's 1994 film Heavenly Creatures is adapted from the same source material. |
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Straw Dogs |
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Unusual 1971 one sheet warning audiences to expect "dramatic intensity" from Sam Peckinpah's controversial thriller with Dustin Hoffmann. This poster was used alongside the regular one sheet with Dustin Hoffman's broken glasses. Noé designed the one sheet for his debut feature I Stand Alone which also features a warning label. |
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Solaris |
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Ultra-rare 1972 Soviet poster for Andrei Tarkovsky's sci-fi classic. One of the rarest Tarkovsky posters, the one and only copy we ever sold was in 2005. |
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The Spirit of the BeehivePeter Strausfeld |
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Adorable U.K. quad for Victor Erice's 1973 masterpiece. The poster artist Peter Strausfeld is known for the distinctive linocut movie posters he created for the Academy Cinema in London starting in 1947 until his death in 1980. |
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The Texas Chainsaw Massacre |
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Brutal 1974 Italian quattro foglio for Tobe Hooper's classic of American horror. The Italian title translates to "Do Not Open That Door". The poster is not signed but the artist may be Sandro Symeoni, who created other posters for the Italian theatrical release. |
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Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia |
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This poster's got guts. Another killer typographic one sheet for another Sam Peckinpah classic, used alongside the regular one sheet. |
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Blow Out |
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Rare credit-less U.K. double crown for Brian De Palma's 1981 neonoir. Similar to the one sheet but punchier. |
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