A few months ago while I was going through the message boards on IMDb, someone was talking about disturbing films and one that seemed to come up the most was a film called Irreversible. This film has come up in discussion so many times when the subject of disturbing film is brought to attention. When I think I've seen the worst of the worst, I figured I should see what Irreversible had to offer. I have to admit after watching this movie, it stayed with me. Definitely not being the easiest movie to watch, Irreversible has a style to it and a very disturbing story that can haunt many for different reasons. Wither it's the extreme violence, the cursing, the drugs or the 9 minute rape scene, Gasper Noe takes you into this very dark world and doesn't let you go.
The beginning of Irreversible (that is, the chronological end of the story) features two men going to a homosexual S&M nightclub called "The Rectum." Minutes earlier, the men named Marcus and Pierre, are escorted out of that nightclub by the police. Marcus is on a stretcher, apparently injured, and Pierre is in handcuffs. Earlier that evening, Marcus and Pierre arrived at the club in a frantic search for somebody nicknamed le Tenia. Marcus finds the man believed to be le Tenia and attacks him. The man pins down Marcus, then snaps his arm. Pierre rescues Marcus by bludgeoning the attacker's face using a fire extinguisher, brutally and fatally crushing the man's skull after repeated blows. During the onslaught, the real le Tenia is seen to be amused by the situation. It is revealed that le Tenia raped Marcus's girlfriend Alex, and placed her in a coma by beating her severely.
Filmed backwards I thought was extremely brilliant, at least the way I interpret it. We see EXTREME violence and sexuality in the beginning, pretty much being up front that this movie is going to be very uncomfortable and not a movie for all. Gasper Noe is basically telling the audience "what you see is what you get", not trying to pull you into something you might not want to be apart of. It also shows that these two men who kill this man violently are possibly the bad guys? No, it turns out as we discover that a woman they both love has been brutally raped and beaten. Then when we meet her, she's not just some woman who is the girlfriend of one of men trying to get revenge or a girl at a party dressed in a skimpy outfit, this is a woman who is walking out of a party trying to get home and comes across the "wrong place, wrong time" situation. The rape scene, reason being that it's so different than any other rape scene you might have viewed in another film, it's long, one angle and the words that come out of the rapist's mouth are just awful. It's the most realistic rape scene I've viewed and I have to warn you that please, if you have a weak stomach or have had that horrific experience, this is not a movie for you.
Irreversible is definitely violent, there is a scene that most people debate which is more disturbing, the rape or the fire extinguisher. The fire extinguisher is at the beginning of the film and is definitely realistic and beyond disturbing, because you see everything. Also the hatred behind the killer is just there, he has no remorse for what he is doing. Then when we find out later that he kills the wrong guy, it just makes it that more brutal. Gasper Noe also films the movie in the worst way in the beginning making the audience sick with his spinning camera and disturbing noises. He doesn't lie to you, he knows this film is going to be one of the most frightening pieces of work you'll see, and he doesn't want you comfortable with it. Irreversible is one of the hardest films for me to recommend because it just depends on what kind of a viewer you are. If you can handle extreme violence, sexuality and language, you could get through this. I watched A Clockwork Orange when I was a teenager and hated it because I felt that Kubrick was trying to make me sympathize with Alex, before watching Irreversible, I re-watched A Clockwork Orange and realized I missed the whole message of the film. It wasn't about Alex, but our society and I have the greatest admiration for the film now. Irreversible shows how we can go from hating someone to understanding their position to rooting for them. Are we the animals? Irreversible will have you thinking for days, this is a film I will never forget.
10/10
The beginning of Irreversible (that is, the chronological end of the story) features two men going to a homosexual S&M nightclub called "The Rectum." Minutes earlier, the men named Marcus and Pierre, are escorted out of that nightclub by the police. Marcus is on a stretcher, apparently injured, and Pierre is in handcuffs. Earlier that evening, Marcus and Pierre arrived at the club in a frantic search for somebody nicknamed le Tenia. Marcus finds the man believed to be le Tenia and attacks him. The man pins down Marcus, then snaps his arm. Pierre rescues Marcus by bludgeoning the attacker's face using a fire extinguisher, brutally and fatally crushing the man's skull after repeated blows. During the onslaught, the real le Tenia is seen to be amused by the situation. It is revealed that le Tenia raped Marcus's girlfriend Alex, and placed her in a coma by beating her severely.
Filmed backwards I thought was extremely brilliant, at least the way I interpret it. We see EXTREME violence and sexuality in the beginning, pretty much being up front that this movie is going to be very uncomfortable and not a movie for all. Gasper Noe is basically telling the audience "what you see is what you get", not trying to pull you into something you might not want to be apart of. It also shows that these two men who kill this man violently are possibly the bad guys? No, it turns out as we discover that a woman they both love has been brutally raped and beaten. Then when we meet her, she's not just some woman who is the girlfriend of one of men trying to get revenge or a girl at a party dressed in a skimpy outfit, this is a woman who is walking out of a party trying to get home and comes across the "wrong place, wrong time" situation. The rape scene, reason being that it's so different than any other rape scene you might have viewed in another film, it's long, one angle and the words that come out of the rapist's mouth are just awful. It's the most realistic rape scene I've viewed and I have to warn you that please, if you have a weak stomach or have had that horrific experience, this is not a movie for you.
Irreversible is definitely violent, there is a scene that most people debate which is more disturbing, the rape or the fire extinguisher. The fire extinguisher is at the beginning of the film and is definitely realistic and beyond disturbing, because you see everything. Also the hatred behind the killer is just there, he has no remorse for what he is doing. Then when we find out later that he kills the wrong guy, it just makes it that more brutal. Gasper Noe also films the movie in the worst way in the beginning making the audience sick with his spinning camera and disturbing noises. He doesn't lie to you, he knows this film is going to be one of the most frightening pieces of work you'll see, and he doesn't want you comfortable with it. Irreversible is one of the hardest films for me to recommend because it just depends on what kind of a viewer you are. If you can handle extreme violence, sexuality and language, you could get through this. I watched A Clockwork Orange when I was a teenager and hated it because I felt that Kubrick was trying to make me sympathize with Alex, before watching Irreversible, I re-watched A Clockwork Orange and realized I missed the whole message of the film. It wasn't about Alex, but our society and I have the greatest admiration for the film now. Irreversible shows how we can go from hating someone to understanding their position to rooting for them. Are we the animals? Irreversible will have you thinking for days, this is a film I will never forget.
10/10