Enter the Void

The film's narrative structure is explicitly inspired by the Bardo Thodol, commonly known as the Tibetan Book of the Dead, which describes the intermediate states of consciousness after death. Oscar's friend Alex references the book in dialogue, and director Gaspar Noé used its descriptions of the afterlife as a blueprint for the film's post-death sequences.

Noé shot much of the film from a subjective first-person camera representing protagonist Oscar's point of view, using a rig that simulated blinking and head movement. After Oscar's death, the camera shifts to a floating, overhead perspective achieved through extensive crane work and CGI composites to create the out-of-body sensation.

The film is set in Tokyo, Japan, and was shot extensively on location in the city's neon-lit nightlife districts, love hotels, and bar scenes. The overwhelming visual density of Tokyo is central to the film's psychedelic aesthetic and the sense of disorientation that permeates Oscar's experiences before and after death.

Gaspar Noé himself has described the film as a "psychedelic melodrama," blending elements of the drug film, ghost story, and experimental cinema. The movie combines hallucinatory visual sequences with a emotionally grounded narrative about siblings, which distinguishes it from purely abstract art cinema.