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Albert Dupontel (left), Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel star in Irreversible.
To say this film is thought-provoking would be and understatement. It will haunt you for weeks! When the beautiful Alex (Monica Bellucci) gets into an argument with her boyfriend Marcus (Vincent Cassel) at a party, she decides to leave alone. Despite the offer from her friend (and ex-boyfriend) Pierre (Albert Dupontel) to accompany her, she takes off on her own.
On her way to the subway station, she is brutally raped and beaten.
When Pierre and Marcus discover what happened to Alex, they go after the man who assaulted her. Overcome with guilt and rage, and intoxicated from the drugs and alcohol at the party, they begin their quest to find Alex’s rapist, which takes them deep into the abyss of everything that is evil about human nature.
The structure of Irreversible — it is told in linear reverse with the first sequence of the film being the ending of the story — enhances Noe’s premise that time destroys everything. Once you’re aware that each sequence you see actually precedes the sequence you just saw, you begin to see how time (in the course of one day) destroys everything. Alex is the epitome of everything beautiful and loving and innocent. She is hated by her rapist because she is beautiful and the hatred and destruction spreads, overpowering everything Alex represented... proving there’s no going back to what once was.
While the opening scene of the film is gut-wrenchingly disturbing, several later scenes are difficult to watch, as well. While American films tend to glorify or romanticize on-screen violence, this French film does not. The violence in Irreversible leaves the viewer ill, horrified, speechless...
Many of the scenes were shot on a hand-held camera, lending to the chaotic, gritty feel — cinematically reinforcing the subject matter. Many of the scenes are dark and shot in real time... prolonging the malaise and foreboding of what’s to come. Noe’s directorial choices are impeccable, such as when the camera following Alex for what feels like an eternity as she walks through the underpass toward the man we know is about to rape her. The anticipation of the horror that’s about to unfold is almost as difficult to see as the rape itself.
While Irreversible is a near-perfect example of what happens when you blend subject matter and cinematography — each enhancing the other — this film is not for everyone. The violence is horrifyingly realistic and the story is as dark as they come. Seeing this film had a profound affect on me... I feel de-virginized by it... like a child who has learned just how terrible the world can be by witnessing it first hand. The images will remain in my mind for a long time. But with all of that said, this film is truly a work of cinematic art.
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