#TBT: Olivier Assayas on Demonlover

Our friends at Janus Films recently released a newly restored “Director’s Cut” of Olivier Assayas’s neonoir, cyber-thriller Demonlover (2002). There have been numerous reappraisals of the film, suggesting that it may have indeed been ahead of its time upon its original release. The film was met with accolades from many corners, but the film also mystified just as many critics and audience members. As J Hoberman recently noted in the New York Times, “The movie struck many as annoyingly trendy when it premiered at Cannes in 2002. Nearly two decades later, its Everything-is-Now pyrotechnics have aged well, although it is hard to ignore the flip-top phones.”

We were honored to host Olivier Assayas at the Wex in October of 2003 for a full retrospective of his work, which included the area premiere of Demonlover. Assayas also selected films to pair with his own, and audiences were treated to double-bills such as A New Life (1993) with Hitchcock’s Marnie (1964), Winter’s Child (1989) with Truffaut’s The Soft Skin (1964), and Demonlover in a triple-bill with Kenneth Anger’s Lucifer Rising (1973) and David Cronenberg’s Videodrome (1983)—that was quite the night—to name just three.

Assayas’s visit almost didn’t happen. He was in Toronto, finishing production on his 2004 film Clean, and was planning on flying to Columbus the day after shooting wrapped. Plane trouble kept pushing his flight back and back, to the point that another delay would likely mean he would not make the Demonlover screening on time. My colleague Chris Stults met him at the airport, and I was onstage getting ready to introduce the film when Olivier emerged from around the corner at the back of our theater and took the stage without missing a beat—from airport to our theater in about 15 minutes! 

In our conversation, Assayas discusses working with cinematographer Denis Lenoir and working with Sonic Youth on the music for the film, along with many other observations and ruminations on filmmaking for which Assayas is known.  I hope you enjoy this moment from the Wex’s past, shared on the occasion of Demonlover’s rerelease.