Vortex tells the story of two partners who live in close, but separate, parallel universes, characterized by their old age and dementia. As they wander around their crammed apartment, gloomy prospects and despair become part of the story, as the couple (played by Dario Argento and Françoise Lebrun) see their bond slowly dissolve with the progressing disease.

The use of a split screen becomes a visual metaphor for the way dementia eats away at a person's ability to communicate with loved ones. In order to give the individual as much space as possible, Gaspar Noé chose to film with two hand-held cameras that follow the protagonists throughout.

Unlike the director's previous films, characterized by explicit scenes of sex and violence, and an often charged, hallucinogenic visual style, Vortex is a contemplative film with a minimum of cinematic techniques. Noé started working on this film after he suffered a serious brain hemorrhage, which nearly killed him.

Gaspar Noé (b. 1963) was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, but his family emigrated to France in 1976. The filmmaker and producer is best known for his visual depictions of violence, drugs, sex and trauma in films such as Enter the Void (2009), Climax (2018) and Irreversible (2002).