Film Review: Irreversible (2002)

8 months ago (Edited)

(source: tmdb.org)

While both graphic sex and graphic violence are traditionally considered inappropriate content for “proper” and “dignified” forms of mainstream cinema, it is usually the former rather than the latter that causes outrage and calls for censorship. This happens even in seemingly open-minded and progressive places like Europe. An illustration can be found in an event that occurred in Croatia years ago when state television aired two “problematic” films back-to-back. The first was Ridley Scott’s Hannibal, and the second was Irreversible, the 2002 French drama written and directed by Gaspar Noé. While the Croatian public saw nothing wrong in Scott’s graphic depictions of sadistic cannibalism, Noé’s film caused a scandal over the use of CGI to depict certain details of male anatomy.

The plot revolves around three major characters – Marcus (played by Vincent Cassel), Marcus’ best friend Pierre (played by Albert Dupontel), and Marcus’ beautiful girlfriend Alex (played by Monica Bellucci). Alex loves Marcus and is even, unbeknownst to him, pregnant. However, Marcus’ behaviour at a house party makes Alex leave and take the fatal decision to use a pedestrian underpass. There, she notices transgender prostitute Concha (played by Jaramillo) being abused by a man called La Tenia (played by Jo Prestia). Concha escapes, but La Tenia switches his attention to Alex, who is anally raped and brutally beaten. As paramedics take away Alex, who is barely clinging to life, two street criminals – Mourad (played by Mourad Khima) and Layde (played by Hillal) – approach Marcus and Pierre and volunteer to help them find the culprit, who is later identified as La Tenia. The trail leads to a gay BDSM club where Marcus and Pierre get into an altercation, face attempted rape, and confrontations that are resolved in a spectacularly violent and bloody manner.

Irreversible is, in essence, a rape and revenge film, a subgenre of exploitation cinema that thrived in the more permissive era of the 1970s before being expunged from video stores during the Video Nasties moral panic of the 1980s. Gaspar Noé tries to hide this by wrapping his film in content and style that belongs to art cinema, especially the brand that tries to win over critics and snobs by being “edgy” and controversial. The content of Irreversible is indeed more extreme than any 1970s rape and revenge author could have ever dreamed. This includes not only plenty of nudity, simulated sex, and even some anatomical details reconstructed by CGI, but also violence that is more explicit and disturbing, including the scene where CGI is used to realistically depict what happens when someone’s head is repeatedly hit with a fire extinguisher. The most disturbing and talked-about scene, which brought Irreversible much infamy and free publicity, depicts the rape that occurs in the underpass. The scene, which seems to go on forever, is one of the most unpleasant pieces of 21st-century cinema that would represent a challenge even to viewers accustomed to the standards of New French Extremity. Yet, it isn’t as graphic as many would have thought, with some of the most revolting details not being shown but actually narrated by the rapist in a manner that might not be too realistic.

Apart from its controversial content, Irreversible is best known for its unusual narrative structure. Noé, inspired by Nolan’s Memento, decided to show the events in reverse chronological order. The film begins with the aftermath of violence, which is observed by the Butcher, the unnamed protagonist of Noé’s previous film I Stand Alone, thus making Irreversible its sequel. The entire plot consists of thirteen chapters, shown in single continuous shots, and each chapter is presented in a slightly different manner. The violence at the beginning/end is depicted through dark cinematography, jerky camera movements, and a soundtrack that makes the whole affair unpleasant, while the atmosphere lightens as the plot moves into the past. The acting is very good, with Vincent Cassel and Monica Bellucci, who were a real couple at the time, displaying great chemistry and a willingness to spend a large part of the running time in their birthday suits. However, a couple of Noé’s creative choices, such as the title “Time Destroys Everything” near the end or the overly intellectual discussions between Pierre and Marcus, might seem pretentious and too snobbish, thus making this generally unpleasant film even less approachable to the general audience. Noé, however, shows great skill, and Irreversible, for better or for worse, has won its place in cinema history. At the 2019 Venice Film Festival, Noé presented a new version called Irreversible: Straight Cut, with slight alterations and events shown in chronological order.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)