Gaspar Noé created the project after suffering a dangerously severe brain hemorrhage which very nearly killed him. When he recovered, he became sober and began filming.
Trough out the house you can see movie posters. They are from 'Vampyr' (Carl Th. Dreyer), 'Solaris' (Andrei Tarkovski) and 'Oceans' (Jacques Perrin).
Gasper Noe based the story of Vortex (2021) on his neighbours who had Early onset dementia, although from a brain injury not old age, movie magic!