The Neon Demon
By Charlotte Stace
Gandules returns to the CCCB’s Pati de les Dones with a summer cinema programme devoted to beauty, obsession and the darker side of perfection. Curated by film critic Desirée de Fez, the 2026 cycle dialogues with the exhibition The Cult of Beauty, using fantasy, horror and science fiction to explore themes including youth, power, desire and the pressure to look flawless.
Opening the series is The Neon Demon (2016) by Nicolas Winding Refn (director of Drive (2011). It follows Jesse, a young aspiring model played by Elle Fanning, who arrives in Los Angeles and is pulled into a world where beauty becomes currency. Jena Malone, Bella Heathcote, Abbey Lee and Keanu Reeves also star.
Nocturnal and hallucinatory, packed with neon lights, hypnotic symmetries, lurex and glitter, the movie is an amazing visual spectacle, endlessly imitated since its premiere (and never surpassed).