FILM REVIEW: Irreversible

A tour de force - this movie will change you.

I rarely review movies, I don't have much that's helpful to say about 'em so why bother? But "Irreversible" was so tragic and brutal and emotionally damaging, to write something about it seems to release some of the psychological strain felt after experiencing it. And make no mistake, you do not just watch this movie, but experience it. Gaspar Noe's method, whether his challenging cinematic virtuosity, his unflinching depictions of horrible brutality, the actors' improvised dialogue, et cetera... all of this utterly absorbs the viewer, who becomes a very uncomfortable bystander. Many people have left the movie unfinished, too unpleasant on many levels. this would happen in the first half, in which the violence is so awful and camera techniques are dizzying and esoteric (although it parallels the chaos of the main characters' delirious, frantic search), combined with an omnipresent bass tone that unsettles the nerves even further. To call it a challenging film seems to be an understatement. As a sort of emotional ordeal, Noe's film is one of the most powerful I have seen.

Part of the visceral effect of this film is surely its controversial depictions of graphic violence, in its infamous, horrifying rape scene and murder scene. (there is also the early setting in the underground gay club, which has plenty of nightmarish and nasty images.) It seems to cheapen the movie to bring these two scenes up in such a way like they're "what the movie's all about, yo!" -- and surely many people will come across this movie in the first place by finding it on "top 10 disturbing movies" lists or something where these scenes are invariably described. That said, I can't help but do the same thing, because in all my adult life this is the only movie where I have had to look away when it was just too much. this must be mentioned because the violence is central to the plot and the emotional onslaught (would the beautiful final scenes be so devastating if not for the viewer's knowledge of what happens, and would you even give a damn if the violence represented was just tame and trivial?). Everyone's buttons get pushed different ways of course and that's fine, but it is too easy for others to disparage this movie because of its depictions of terrible violence, but such does not make a movie bad. To attribute this brutality to a lack of morality or sensationalism is very ignorant. The murder scene is not bloody but incredibly cruel and disturbing, rendered in a fluid shot that makes it too close for comfort. When Monica Bellucci is raped and beaten it's even worse, a static shot that looks on and on for what seems like an eternity. As bad as it sounds (and it's much worse to see), this film does not sensationalize violence -- I can think of few movies that are more anti-violence.

The reason for this is the structural device. On paper, this sounds like a standard rape-and-revenge tale if presented linearly. But "Irreversible" is told backwards, starting (ending) from the aftermath of the showdown with the suspected rapist to the elegiac final (beginning) scenes of tenderness and beauty and warmth before everything unravels later in the story. The violence opens the film, rather than concluding it. The title card at the movie's end (story's beginning), "Time destroys all things," is not so much a "deep philosophical point" or anything in my opinion, but a simple summation of why "Irreversible" is so tragic. the way violence begets violence and how certain causal relations gain different meaning is interesting, but the real core of this movie is a poignant, heartbreaking message about the delicacy upon which all the beauty in life can depend. When the dialogue in later scenes `foreshadows' (if that's the right term) horrors not yet experienced by the characters, the unrecognized significance hits the viewer like a sledgehammer. Not very subtle, and pretty manipulative really, but very affecting. Actually, the scene where they make love in their apartment is beautiful but disturbing in its own way... we all understand the hitchcockian idea of suspense where the viewer knows more than the characters - well, this is like anti-suspense because we already know the outcome and it makes the film's last scenes soooo wrenching. It plays out like a memory, moving from the great ugliness of present to the comforting idyll of the past. This too is very sad if you think about it.

Much credit must go to acting. Monica Bellucci, Vincent Cassell, and Albert Dupontel are all very good and realistic, and the dialogue is largely improvised making each scene more genuine and affecting. Bellucci and Cassell were married at the time the movie was made and their intimacy underscores the relationship of their characters and their erotic scenes together are very natural and lovely. (the tunnel scene and its peculiar rapist, however, underscores rape as an act of violence, not sexuality, and Bellucci deserves kudos with her brave portrayal of this traumatizing episode.)

This review is too long already, I have to stop but I feel like I could write a book. I don't know anything about movies anyway. SO. In one sense, it's hard to recommend this movie -- but you can probably say ex ante whether your experience with "Irreversible" will be rewarding (whether you enjoy the film or not). You may stay far away, and you may turn it off during the first 45 minutes, finding it too unbearable. And no doubt, it is deeply upsetting, but I would like to think that most people would be able to "handle" this, and an intelligent viewer should be able to appreciate the violence in context. Therefore in another sense, I highly recommend "Irreversible". It's simply an amazing film. You will not exactly enjoy it, but it will haunt you for days if not weeks or longer, and provoke introspection of which few other films are capable.