Irréversible (2002) – Yell! Magazine’s Greatest Film Series

Irréversible Review:

Watching films such as Sam Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs, Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, or Jonathan Kaplan’s The Accused does not prepare you for what Gaspar Noé envisions on the subject of film rape scenes. In Irréversible rape is brutal, grotesque, and very difficult to watch. Monica Bellucci’s performance is convincing enough to make you feel as though you’re witnessing an actual rape, and then it’ll turn your stomach. In order to see a film as hard to get through as Irréversible you would have to find a copy of Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left.

Noé reverses the order of the film, beginning with two men in a sleazy gay bar killing what they believe to be the rapist of one of the men’s girlfriend. Later you witness the act itself, which caused the chain of events to occur in the first place. Using hand-held cameras for some scenes as a way to increase the reality and the nauseating effects that the violence and depravity portrayed on screen cause, Noé shows he doesn’t want his audience ever to feel truly comfortable watching his film. This film is not recommended for the constitutionally weak.