History Film / EnterTheVoid

* SpiritualSuccessor: It definitely comes across as ''some'' sort of successor to ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'', featuring the same kind of exploratory existentialism and drawn-out, trippy sequences. It's even harder to sit through due to the addition of [[WretchedHive general human degeneracy]] and [[FreudWasRight psychosexual issues]], however.

* UnbrokenFirstPersonPerspective: The entire film is from Oscar's perspective, but in non-chronological order and using different styles of POV shots. Specifically, the first one from the opening scenes is shown directly from his eyes so that we even see the movement of ''his eyelids''; a second POV is from Oscar's disembodied spirit as he flies around Tokyo observing the events around him; and a third POV shot with the back of his head in view, used only in flashbacks. Since these third-person shots are from flashbacks, the camera stays on his point of view, making a case of using both first and third-person shots at the same time.

* MindScrew: Drug trips and a spiritual journey all from one, single POV are bound to look trippy.
* MindRape: It's possible that Oscar possesses various people in the film, including his sister's lover.

As his spirit rises from his body and watches over the events which follow, the audience views everything from his perspective, from the aftermaths of his loved ones' lives to dreams that unveil aspects of his past.

''Enter the Void'' was a long-time passion project for Noé, synthesizing a number of things he had grown fascinated by in his early life -- themes of death, existence and the afterlife alongside aesthetics of psychedelia and surrealism. His failed initial attempts at getting sufficient funding for the film inspired the creation of ''Film/{{Irreversible}}'', which he retrospectively considered a "bank robbery" to finance ''Enter the Void'', as well as a helpful technical exercise.

* AgeGapRomance: Oscar's late mother and father are {{implied|Trope}} to have around a 10-15 year age gap between them, since he's a somewhat older, well-off guy and she's a bit of a youthful trophy wife. After Oscar and Linda orphaned and sent to live with their father's parents, they are shown to be much too old to be taking care of kids any longer.

* {{Bookends}} [=/=] TitleDrop: The film proper begins with the word "ENTER" filling the screen. At the film's very ''end'', the words "THE" and "VOID" are shown in the same manner.

* BrotherSisterIncest: [[IncestSubtext Heavily implied]] to be the case between Oscar and his sister since he watches her sleep ([[SleepsInTheNude in the nude no less]]) and the fact that he is repeatedly shown watching her dance in the strip club. There are also several instances where she kisses him and it's a little more than a peck on the cheek. Aside from that, [[spoiler: Oscar flies into the bodies of her lovers while she has sex with them, watching the act from their [=POVs=]. He even flies inside of her at the climax and we get an inside view of her vagina during intercourse. Adding an extra layer of discomfort is the possibility that he's thinking of her as his mother through all this.]]

* DepthOfField / FishEyeLens: Oscar's POV sometimes has this effect.

** Linda burns Oscar's drugs in a bucket so the police won't find them.

* DontSplitUsUp: When Oscar and Linda are separated as kids, Linda doesn't take is so well.

** The opening credits is essentially two full minutes of seizure-inducing strobing.

** This goes without mentioning the Japanese street signs and strobing club lights which pervade the film. Even ordinary lightbulbs flicker with varying intensities.

* GainaxEnding: As one can gather from this page, the ending has a lot of interpretations. [[spoiler: After graphically showing Linda's vagina being filled with semen and a sperm fertilizing her ovum, the film cuts to Oscar being born. The POVCam at this point is justifiably entirely blurry, so the identity of the mother (either Oscar's actual mother, or Linda) is unknowable. Of course, it may be AllJustADream, as Oscar was high on DMT when he got shot and could have been imagining the last two hours of the film.]]

* IncestSubtext: Like with Gaspar Noe's other works, incest is a strong theme in the film, tying in to concepts such as rebirth and reincarnation. Oscar's relationship with his sister Linda is disturbingly affectionate, though whether or not they actually have had sex together is never quite confirmed. It's also pretty blatant that Oscar has [[IncestSubtext a thing for his deceased mother]].

* KickTheDog: Victor tries to [[NeverMyFault lay some of the blame on Linda]] for Oscar's death because she always hung around creeps. Linda angrily tells Victor to go kill himself.

* LuredIntoATrap: Oscar, lured into The Void by Victor.

* MindScrew: Drug trips and a spiritual journey all from one, single POV is bound to look trippy.

* MsFanservice: Linda, and how. The stripper and sex scenes are just the tip of the iceberg.

** As we go through Oscar's life story, we end up reaching the point that Oscar starts in at the beginning of the movie, and it follows through up to his death.

* RaisedByGrandparents: Deconstructed. It is implied that after the car crash that killed their parents, Oscar and Linda are initially being taken care of by their (paternal?) grandparents, but since they're just too old to take care of kids any longer Oscar and Linda are forcibly split up and moved into different foster families.

* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Linda receives an abortion after getting pregnant from her boss, a seedy strip club owner. Linda is emotionally damaged and living a dangerous lifestyle, and her abortion plays into that.

* IncestSubtext: Like with Gaspar Noe's other works, incest is a strong theme in the film, tying in to concepts such as rebirth and reincarnation. Oscar's relationship with his sister Linda is disturbingly affectionate, though whether or not they actually have had sex together is never quite confirmed. It's also pretty blatant that Oscar has a thing for his deceased mother.

* IncestSubtext: Like with Gaspar Noe's other works, incest is a strong theme in the film, tying in to concepts such as rebirth and reincarnation. Oscar's relationship with his sister Linda is disturbingly affectionate, though whether or not they actually have had sex together is never quite confirmed. It's also pretty blatant that Oscar has an OedipusComplex towards his deceased mother.

* OedipusComplex: It's heavily implied that Oscar has wanted to bed his mother since childhood and his father doesn't figure much into his trips to the past unless he's right next to [[spoiler:or having sex with]] his mother.

* BrotherSisterIncest: [[IncestSubtext Heavily implied]] to be the case between Oscar and his sister since he watches her sleep ([[SleepsInTheNude in the nude no less]]) and the fact that he is repeatedly shown watching her dance in the strip club. There are also several instances where she kisses him and it's a little more than a peck on the cheek. Aside from that, [[spoiler: Oscar flies into the bodies of her lovers while she has sex with them, watching the act from their POVs. He even flies inside of her at the climax and we get an inside view of her vagina during intercourse. Adding an extra layer of discomfort is the possibility that he's thinking of her as his mother through all this.]]

* AgeGapRomance: Oscar's late mother and father are [[ImpliedTrope implied]] to have around a 10-15 year age gap between them, since he's a somewhat older, well-off guy and she's a bit of a youthful trophy wife. After they're orphaned and sent to live with their father's parents, they are shown to be much too old to be taking care of kids any longer.

* GoodBadGirl: Linda.

* DizzyCam / EverythingsBetterWithSpinning: A [[CreatorThumbprint trademark]] of Gaspar Noé.

** [[spoiler: According to WordOfGod, the whole movie is the result of Oscar allucinating during his final moments because of being high on drugs.]]

* BrotherSisterIncest: [[IncestSubtext Heavily implied]] to be the case between Oscar and his sister since he watches her sleep ([[SleepsInTheNude in the nude no less]]) and the fact that he is repeatedly shown watching her dance in the strip club. There are also several instances where she kisses him and it's a little more than a peck on the cheek. Aside from that, [[spoiler: Oscar flies into the bodies of her lovers while she has sex with them, watching the act from their POV's. He even flies inside of her at the climax and we get an inside view of her vagina during intercourse. Adding an extra layer of discomfort is the possibility that he's thinking of her as his mother through all this.]]

* DerangedAnimation: There is a lot of CGI animation, although it may not be noticeable since all characters are live action.

* DesignStudentsOrgasm: The opening credits features everyone's name in dramatic, colourful logos. When it gets to the cast, every name gets delirious, seizure-inducing animations in all styles imaginable.

** Linda burns Oscar's drugs in a bucket so police won't find it.

* TheFaceless: {{Subverted}}. We know what Oscar looks like because he looks at himself in the mirror at the start of the film, but during all of the flashbacks, the camera is always behind him, showing only his shoulders and the back of the head to the audience.

* MaleFrontalNudity: The night club owner, when dropping his pants to have sex with Linda backstage.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Victor has this realization, after the coup with the cops goes awry.

* RuleOfSymbolism: The events that Oscar perceives after being shot is loosely based upon his reading of the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

* TooDumbToLive: I dunno Oscar, maybe yelling "I have a gun" while the cops have you cornered in a bathroom during a drug raid wasn't the best idea ever?

* TrashcanBonfire: Alex makes one to warm him during the night he spend outside.

* UnbrokenFirstPersonPerspective: The entire film is from Oscar's perspective, but in non-chronological order and using different styles of POV shots. Specifically, the first one from the opening scenes is shown directly from his eyes so that we even see the movement of ''his eyelids''; a second POV is from Oscar's disembodied spirit as he flies around Tokyo observing the events around him; and a third POV shot with the back of his head in view, used only in flashbacks. Since these third person shots are from flashbacks, the camera stays on his point of view, making a case of using both first and third person shots at the same time.

''Enter the Void'' is an experimental art drama film co-written and directed by [[Creator/GasparNoe Gaspar Noé]], with Noé summarizing it as a "psychedelic melodrama". The entire film is seen through the UnbrokenFirstPersonPerspective of its protagonist through strict point-of-view shots, including momentary blackouts to represent blinking, and extended hallucinatory sequences.

A rough cut of it premiered at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, with the post-production required of the film delaying its wide release in France to a year later, with Germany and Italy receiving further releases across 2010 and 2011.

* FanDisservice: Intercutting scenes between Linda as a fully-grown and often nubile young woman with moments from when she was just an innocent child.

* KarmaHoudini: [[Spoiler: Victor's mom cheats on her husband with Oscar and said affair is the reason Victor turns Oscar to the cops and eventually gets him killed. While Victor is kicked out of his house by his parents, his mom gets no punishment despite her role in the whole mess, except for the pain of losing Oscar.]]