Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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22 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Controversial, if sometimes dull, 4 April 2003
IN a way, Irreversible is a straightforward tale of rape and revenge. However it's not quite that simple, as due to two highly controversial and provocative scenes, Gaspar Noe's film has become notorious.
Whether it deserves notoriety is debatable. One thing that is for certain, however, is that it will divide opinion and disgust and titillate in equal measure.
Using an interestingly different narrative structure (a la Memento) it starts at the beginning and rewinds to the end, outlining the relationship between Alex (Bellucci), her boyfriend Marcus (Cassel) and her former lover Pierre (Dupontel).
Its two pivotal moments come when Alex is barbarously raped and Pierre savagely kills a man who he believes is the rapist, after hunting him down with Marcus, who is consumed with bloody revenge upon learning of the attack.
Without these two scenes, Irreversible is a somewhat unremarkable affair, in fact, it's even dull. Pierre, who wants Alex back, lusts over her and predictably disapproves of her courtship with Marcus, who, as we view when the trio are at a party, has a penchant for drug taking and has a blase attitude towards his girlfriend.
Alex's rape dramatically alters everything and in a particulary repugnant and tortuously long scene, she is sodomised in the most brutal fashion and then battered to a pulp in an unprovoked and sickening attack. Marcus and Pierre go after the perpetrator and upon finding the man who they believe is responsible, Pierre, who ironically tries to calm Marcus, attacks him with frightening venom, bashing him repeatedly with a fire extinguisher until his face turns to mush and his body lays lifeless.
Now whether this double whammy of graphic sex and violence is sheer aimless depravity and misogynstic wickedness for no reason or a depiction of unflinchingly raw realism is indeterminate. There can be no arguing that the sequences don't have some kind of impact however. Anybody who has seen and survived intact from watching Pasolini's famous Salo or the Last 120 days of Sodom, Zeir Marchi's I Spit On Your Grave or Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left should be relatively unaffected by what happens on screen, others however may be unprepared and choose to abstain from watching.
Whatever your viewpoint, Irreversible, though stylistically messy and purposefully disorientating, does have merit and is unmissable, if only for its ability to shock and repel.
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37 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's not pretty, but it's superb, 28 May 2003
When you compare this to the fuss kicked up by the BBFC for a full 31 years over Last House On the Left, it seems like a minor miracle that it was passed uncut for both the cinema and home viewing. Whilst by no means as over the top as it has been portrayed as being (the people storming out at the Cannes festival last year must have been especially sensitive), this film is obviously not for everyone. As is quite widely known, it contains a scene involving repeated interactions between a man’s head and a fire extinguisher, and also a rape scene probably only beaten in terms of explicitness by that in I Spit On Your Grave.
However, you should not be deterred by the film’s brutal reputation, as this film is one fantastic piece of cinema. Featuring superb performances from the three main protagonists Vincent Cassel, Albert Dupontel and Monica Bellucci (now best know as Persephone from The Matrix Reloaded, as different a film from this as is possible to get!) and dizzying camera work from Argentine director Gaspar Noé that makes NYPD Blue look like a stage play, you will certainly not forget this film in a hurry after seeing it. As long as you can understand French or don’t mind reading subtitles, and aren’t too easily shocked (the film’s reputation is perhaps a little harsh, but it still more than deserves it’s 18 certificate), this is a stylish, intelligent film that I’d heartily recommend.
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27 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Time Destroys All Things....., 18 Dec 2006
Irreversible is probably the most explicit and upsetting film I have ever seen. I bought it on DVD but can't bring myself to watch it again. That said, I can remember every single scene because love it or hate it, you certainly won't forget it. It is an uncompromising masterpiece but because it contains such horrific sexual violence, many will see it as gratuitous pornography.
The film is told in reverse, much like 'Memento', starting with the climax and tracking backwards to the beginning. It begins with two men being arrested for battering a man to death in a nasty looking gay club 'The Rectum'. As the story unfolds (backwards) we learn that the dead man subjected a woman (Belluci) to quite possibly the worst sexual assault ever committed to film (the scene lasts almost 15 minutes) and her boyfriend and ex-boyfriend hunted him down to take revenge. After witnessing the extreme violence in the first half of the film we then see the three friends getting ready to attend a party on the night of the assault and how her boorish boyfriend (Cassell) allows her to leave alone at night so he can stay and flirt with other women. It then goes on to show the couple at home, blissfully happy, unaware that their lives are about to be torn apart in such an unimaginable way.
Irreversible is difficult to watch. The subway scene (among others) is so intense it is impossible to view this film as entertainment but I would still recommend watching it anyway because it is far more important than the majority of Hollywood films. It is a breathtaking experience that you will never forget.
Like This? Try: Memento
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