Most people who seek out this movie do so for its legendary nine-minute, brutal, graphic rape scene. They're either drawn to it by some need to see this infamous scene, or repulsed by the fact that it even exists. If that's all you see here, you're missing a finely crafted, very challenging film that has a lot to say about fate, destiny, and the course of our everyday lives.
Irreversible is a story told backwards, using this gimmick as a path to its ultimate theme: if you knew the future was bleak and horrible, would you still want to see it? After a brief prologue that sets up this theme ("Les temps detoured tout" - Time destroys everything), we see nothing but chaos. The camera-work is dizzying and disorienting, the dialogue is shouted and overlapping, the cuts quick and blinding. Ten minutes later, a vicious act of retribution on a rapist occurs. Shortly after that, the actual crime is seen - the rape of Alex (Monica Bellucci) at the hands of a total stranger. Both of these heinous acts are filmed without the jump-cuts and off-kilter perspectives - we see them with sickening clarity.
That's the future (or the present). The rest of the film establishes the three main characters - Alex, her boyfriend Marcus (Vincent Cassel) and her ex-lover Pierre (Albert Dupontel) in happier times as they head to town for a party. Each scene takes a step back - not only in chronological time, but in thematic distance from the chaos and violence of the early part of the film. We see these three tease and joke about sex and relationships, even with that dark shadow of the known future echoing behind every simple touch or every spoken word.
But the film is brightening as it goes backwards, reinforcing the theme that time does destroy everything (as the future becomes the past), but also that even the worst horrors can never truly overshadow a happy past. Bellucci and Cassell (real life husband and wife) have a perfect on-screen chemistry, one that's shown with more than dialogue or action; it's evident in their comfort with one another.
By the time the film ends, director Gaspar Noe has shown you the depths of human depravity, but he's also rewarded you with a sense of optimism that you may never have guessed was coming. He carefully constructs a film built on horrible realities and open-ended possibilities. He's clever enough to unfold his story in such a way that we know the ending, but still can feel good about the beginnings.
For those who think this is a film intended for shock alone, they might be surprised at its depth. It's definitely not for everyone - not by a longshot - but there's more here than meets the eye.
Irreversible is a story told backwards, using this gimmick as a path to its ultimate theme: if you knew the future was bleak and horrible, would you still want to see it? After a brief prologue that sets up this theme ("Les temps detoured tout" - Time destroys everything), we see nothing but chaos. The camera-work is dizzying and disorienting, the dialogue is shouted and overlapping, the cuts quick and blinding. Ten minutes later, a vicious act of retribution on a rapist occurs. Shortly after that, the actual crime is seen - the rape of Alex (Monica Bellucci) at the hands of a total stranger. Both of these heinous acts are filmed without the jump-cuts and off-kilter perspectives - we see them with sickening clarity.
That's the future (or the present). The rest of the film establishes the three main characters - Alex, her boyfriend Marcus (Vincent Cassel) and her ex-lover Pierre (Albert Dupontel) in happier times as they head to town for a party. Each scene takes a step back - not only in chronological time, but in thematic distance from the chaos and violence of the early part of the film. We see these three tease and joke about sex and relationships, even with that dark shadow of the known future echoing behind every simple touch or every spoken word.
But the film is brightening as it goes backwards, reinforcing the theme that time does destroy everything (as the future becomes the past), but also that even the worst horrors can never truly overshadow a happy past. Bellucci and Cassell (real life husband and wife) have a perfect on-screen chemistry, one that's shown with more than dialogue or action; it's evident in their comfort with one another.
By the time the film ends, director Gaspar Noe has shown you the depths of human depravity, but he's also rewarded you with a sense of optimism that you may never have guessed was coming. He carefully constructs a film built on horrible realities and open-ended possibilities. He's clever enough to unfold his story in such a way that we know the ending, but still can feel good about the beginnings.
For those who think this is a film intended for shock alone, they might be surprised at its depth. It's definitely not for everyone - not by a longshot - but there's more here than meets the eye.
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