Irreversible (2003)

Series of events are unfolded in reverse, only to teach that, despite the initial apparent disappointment (a seemingly wrong man got his brains bashed in in a lovely scene which would be brutally satisfying if the target was right), and that a high class girl got apparently unjustly raped, we learn that in fact justice has been done after all. The murdered man was worthless, and the one who got away was in fact macro wise gay who actually and justly got an oversexed snobs privileged face remastered, to fit internal ugliness. A brutal, but honest way of checking white privilege. The two perverts at the beginning and the other two during the film got their privilege checked too - impotent frenchman got to go to prison after proving his masculinity with a little help of fire extinguisher, while ratbrained high class junkie got away with just his hand broken. Such is cosmic justice, and it is good.

I have watched quite a few disturbing, underrated and definitely- not-Hollywood movies, ranging from bizarre Japanese flicks, to unknown experimental art films. And I honestly, from the bottom of my heart, believe that foreign is better than Hollywood by miles. Anyway, about Irreversible, it's a little funny how I discovered the movie. It was actually through another movie review on an old adult anime called Midori: Shoujo Tsubaki. The reviewer had mentioned that they believed if there was a live action counterpart, it would be Irreversible. So I ended up watching it out of curiosity. First, I have never seen a movie done in reverse chronological order, and I thought that was very interesting and unique. I really liked that. And the director's use of color to convey emotions and feelings was outstanding. That sinister dark crimson in the underpass where the beautiful Monica Bellucci meets her fate added to the powerful and agonizing horror of the scene. As well as the use of dark red flashes in the introductory scene of the gay sex club, giving off an illusion of a horrific torture chamber rather than a night club. As far as the infamous 9 minute scene goes, I can always appreciate a movie that portrays rape for what it is: a cruel, dehumanizing and humiliating act of violence. Many movies I've seen would eroticize rape with the use of suggestive close ups, erotic noises and heaving bosoms. But Irreversible gets straight to the point: rape is horrible and unacceptable. Point blank period. I couldn't help but cry as I watched this innocent young woman (that could be anyone really) get treated like less than a person, and of course I was reminded of the vicious world we live in and that one can never be too safe. These things happen. I praise this movie for it's realism and it's harsh but straightforward awareness on rape. I also love this movie because, when we learn at the end, before Monica meets her fate, that she is pregnant, we are reminded that, even though life can bare it's random cruelty whenever, there are beautiful moments to enjoy in life too. Time destroys everything, and an unexpected tragedy could change one's life in seconds, so enjoy this day and don't let trivial things ruin it for you.

Say you were reading a novel. The reputation of this novel preceded it, it had been called one of the most intense ever written. The novel is 11 chapters long, and those chapters are only one or two long protracted sentences each. The second to last chapter is beautiful and brilliant. It recontextualizes the chapters that preceded it, and is so perfectly written that it feels like a privilege that you get to read it. But the remaining ten chapters ranged from pointless to artistically and morally inexcusable. Would you still read the novel?Gaspar Noe's Irreversible consists of 11 scenes, many of them seemingly filmed in one take. It is one of the most self indulgent films I've seen. It fails to make any point or to have any meaningful aesthetic; instead it simply exists to show that Noe could make a film like this. This is the greatest sin a film can commit. It's fine to make bold visionary films, it's fine to make films as unpleasant as this. But to make them for ego, and not for characters, ideas, stories or images is reprehensible.Irreversible is a vigilante movie at it's core. The success of this genre hinges on the audience knowing what is being avenged. We don't learn what is being avenged until scene 10, and it is beautiful, and we are forced to think "was the previous hour worth it?" I don't think it was. By structuring the film the way he has, Noe has robbed us of any characterization or motivation-we are left with ugly senseless violence that has the emotional impact of watching pigeons squabble on the street. And the movie still has the gall to think this will hurt us. Obviously a ten minute rape scene will be shocking. It does not take skill to make this.Maybe the pointlessness is Noe's point. Maybe this is an anti reactionary, anti violence movie. The racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia and violence shown here ultimately are so useless one could draw the conclusion that the movie is telling us to stay away from these modes in times where we crave revenge. But honestly, I just have no reason to care. I have no reason to think about this movie any more.

I bought Irreversible out of curiosity as media colleagues of mine always bang on about it. I've seen some violent films in my time, and always try to keep an open mind. For example the film 'Funny Games', the original version is as brutal as it gets. Throughout this film you can identify with the 2 culprits and you learn about why they behave so brutally. You are brought into their world, whether you like it or not. Within Irreversible, In some ways you can identify with Alex and Marcus, you may like them,you may not,or you just don't feel anything. Out of all the characters in the film, I didn't like Marcus for some reason, are we supposed to think he is to blame for the brutal the attack on Alex ? The rest of the film just left me numb and bored. By the end all I could think was, what's the point ? Most of the male Characters are assholes, all the women are treated like objects, even Marcus treats Alex like a piece of meat. I just felt it was trying to be shocking without any real point or subject matter. The pitch bend LFO during the club attack scene was grating and distracting. It just seemed to be there for the sake of it. I'm a composer and sound designer. I personally felt it didn't fit in with the rest of the film. There was little if any music elsewhere, and the film was more like a screenplay. Over one night 3 people's lives changed forever, all we really know about the characters are one was a beautiful woman, one of them drank and took drugs as well as treated his girlfriend badly, the 3rd person asked weird questions about people's sex lives whilst appointing himself protector of women. Violence for the sake of it without really exploring any purpose. Maybe that was the whole point ? In order to somehow be shocking, when actually it lacked substance. I was bored and nearly turned the film off.