Gaspar Noé’s work is greatly influenced by Sigmund Freud, who said that human emotion, thought and behaviour were driven by two things: sex and aggression. Both love and violence are described as primatial states, but when the two are brought together, Noé has created one of the most prolific and disturbing portrayals of sexual violence in cinema history.

His specific output of sexualised violence is delivered to inflict pain and shock audiences. Probably Noé’s most iconic scene in his entire…