Irréversible is a 2002 French drama film written and directed by Gaspar Noé, starring Monica Bellucci, Vincent Cassel and Albert Dupontel. The film employs a non-linear narrative and follows two men as they try to avenge a brutally raped girlfriend. The soundtrack was composed by the electronic musician Thomas Bangalter, who is best known as half of the band Daft Punk.

American film critic Roger Ebert called it "a movie so violent and cruel that most people will find it unwatchable."^[1] Irréversible competed at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival and won the Stockholm International Film Festival's award for best film.

Irreversible has been associated with the New French Extremity movement^[2].

Plot[link]

Irréversible contains thirteen scenes presented in reverse chronological order. They are outlined here in chronological order.

A young woman named Alex is reading An Experiment with Time by John William Dunne in a park, surrounded by playing children. Beethoven's 7th Symphony is heard in the background. The camera spins around faster and faster until it blacks out into a strobe effect, accompanied by a pulsing, roaring sound. A rapidly spinning image of the cosmos can be dimly perceived. A title card reads: "Le temps détruit tout" ("Time destroys everything") — a phrase uttered in the film's first scene.

Marcus and Alex now lie in bed after sex. Alex tells Marcus about a dream she had, that she was in a red tunnel. Alex also reveals she might be pregnant, and Marcus is pleased with the possibility. They prepare to go to a party, and Marcus leaves to buy wine. Alex takes a shower, then uses a home pregnancy test that confirms she is pregnant. She is elated. She sits on the bed clothed, her hand on her belly. A poster for Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, with the tagline "The Ultimate Trip", is above the headboard.

At a nearby Paris Métro station and aboard a subway train, the trio discuss sex. Pierre refers to the fact that he and Alex were once dating, but are no longer in a relationship. He implies that Marcus stole Alex from him.

Some time passes. Alex, Marcus, and Pierre are at a party. Alex is annoyed by Marcus' unrestrained use of drugs and alcohol and his flirtatious behavior with other women, and consequently decides to leave the party.

On her way home, Alex sees a man (le Tenia, or "the Tapeworm") beating a transsexual prostitute named Concha in a pedestrian underpass. Once he sees Alex, he lets go of Concha and turns his attention to Alex. Alex attempts to flee, but le Tenia catches her and threatens her with a knife. Le Tenia pins Alex to the ground and very brutally rapes Alex anally for 8 minutes of screentime. Le Tenia then brutally beats her by kicking and punching her face and then pounding it into the ground.

A short period of time passes. As Marcus and Pierre leave the party, they encounter a crime scene and learn that someone has been raped. Marcus sees Alex, unconscious on a stretcher, being removed to an ambulance and cries hysterically over her body. He learns that Alex is in a coma, and Marcus and Pierre are questioned by the police. A street thug named Mourad and his friend Laïd introduce themselves to Marcus, explaining that even if the police capture the rapist, he will at worst end up in a comfortable prison, with meals and even medical care. The two men promise to help find the rapist if Marcus and Pierre pay them. The thugs explain that they know the police discovered a purse with a man's business card in it. Marcus and Pierre go looking for that man.

Marcus and Pierre track down the man whose business card was found at the rape scene. It turns out to be Concha, a transvestite prostitute and the person who was being beaten in the tunnel when Alex first encountered the rapist. At first, Concha refuses to talk to them. After Marcus threatens to slash her with a piece of broken glass, she identifies le Tenia as the rapist and says he can be found at a gay BDSM nightclub called The Rectum. Marcus, Pierre, Mourad, and Laïd flee, being chased by a horde of angry transexuals.

Marcus and Pierre go to The Rectum. Marcus finds le Tenia standing with another man. Thinking this is Le Tenia, he assaults him but this person wrestles Marcus to the ground, breaks Marcus' arm, and attempts to rape Marcus on the club floor. Pierre grabs a fire extinguisher and beats this unknown individual to death, as Le Tenia stands transfixed. The police arrest Pierre and put him in handcuffs. An ambulance arrives, and Marcus is put on a stretcher and taken from the club. Outside, a group of men shout homophobic insults at them. The audience learns that the murdered man was not le Tenia after all. Rather, the man standing next to him in the club was the real le Tenia.

Across the street in a small apartment, two men are talking about sex. One of them is "the Butcher", the protagonist of Noé's previous film, I Stand Alone and short film Carne. In a drunken monologue, the Butcher reveals that he was arrested for having sex with his daughter. Their philosophical musings shift to the subject of the commotion in the streets outside. Without looking out the window, they derisively attribute the commotion to the patrons of The Rectum.

Cast[link]

• Monica Bellucci as Alex M
• Vincent Cassel as Marcus
• Albert Dupontel as Pierre
• Jo Prestia as Le Tenia
• Mourad Khimaand as Mourad
• Hellal as Layde
• Jara-Millo as Concha
• Philippe Nahon as the man

Production[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Irréversible was shot using a widescreen 16mm process. Many of the scenes were shot with multiple takes that were then invisibly edited together using digital processing, creating the illusion that the scene is filmed all in one shot, with no cuts or edits. This included the rape scene, portrayed in a single, unbroken shot, lasting nine minutes. Although the penis can be seen after the rape, this was later digitally added in editing with computer-generated imagery. Another example is with the scene where Pierre bludgeons a man to death, crushing his skull. Computer graphics were brought in to augment the results, as initial footage using a conventional latex dummy proved unconvincing. The process can be watched in the bonus material of the film's DVD. The film uses extremely low-frequency sound during the opening 20 to 30 minutes to create a state of disorientation and unease in the audience, including during the nine-minute rape scene.

Reception[link]

Bellucci at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival

The film premiered in France on 22 May 2002 through Mars Distribution. It competed at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.^[3] It was released in the United Kingdom on 31 January 2003 through Metro Tartan Distribution, and the United States on 7 March 2003 through Lions Gate Films. Audience reactions to both the rape scene and the murder scene have ranged from appreciation of their artistic merits to leaving the theater in disgust.^[4] Newsweek's David Ansen stated that "If outraged viewers (mostly women) at the Cannes Film Festival are any indication, this will be the most walked-out-of movie of 2003." In the same review, Ansen suggested that the film displayed "an adolescent pride in its own ugliness".^[5]

Critical response to the film was divided. As of 2011, it held a score of 56% positive verdict from 119 reviews at Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 5.7/10.^[6] The American film critic Roger Ebert argued that the film's structure makes it inherently moral; that by presenting vengeance before the acts that inspire it, we are forced to process the vengeance first, and therefore think more deeply about its implications.^[7]

The film won the top award, the Bronze Horse for best film, at the 2002 Stockholm International Film Festival. It was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Award by the Film Critics Circle of Australia. It was voted Best Foreign Language Film by the San Diego Film Critics Society, tied with Les Invasions Barbares.^{[citation needed]} It grossed $792,200 from theatrical screenings.^[8]

Controversy[link]

Film critic David Edelstein argues that "Irreversible might be the most homophobic movie ever made."^[9] Noe's depiction of gay criminal Le Tenia inexplicably raping female lead, Alex, remains the film's most controversial image. In his defense, Noe has stated, "I’m not homophobic," further stating that "I also appear in 'Irreversible,' masturbating at the gay club," as a means of showing that "I didn't feel superior to gays."^[10]

See also[link]

• Irréversible (soundtrack)
• Human reactions to infrasound
• New French Extremity

References[link]

External links[link]

• Irreversible on Le Temps Détruit Tout (Unofficial & International website about Gaspar Noé)
• Irréversible at the Internet Movie Database
• Irréversible at AllRovi
• Irréversible at Rotten Tomatoes