On my journey to watch the most intense and disturbing films available, I came across this little gem of a film. I don’t even know where to begin when discussing this film. Where would one begin? First off, it’s in French, so some subtitle work is needed throughout the film. Although, for the main scenes that make this film so amazing no subtitles are needed to be read. Jeez. I don’t even know how to start and tackle this one.
The storyline is set up very uniquely. It is not straight narrative story. The film begins at the end and then every 20 minutes or so we jump back 20 minutes before that scene. It’s similar to MEMENTO, but uses the backwards story MO much more effectively I believe. With MEMENTO it begins to become gimmicky and it is almost laughable by the end of the film. IRREVERSIBLE is not laughable by any stretch. The film starts off in a dark sex club where graphic acts are depicted (how about that for PC?), and a man is murdered. Then we continue back in time throughout the events of the day.
The scene that everyone talks about and created the hype around this film is the 9-minute, with no cuts, rape scene. And it is incredibly hard to bear. The acting is top notch and we are left feeling dirty and abused. If for one second there wasn’t the amount of intensity that both actors gave out, we would be left not believing. But we believe it. Indeed we do. The camera sits on the floor for the entire scene and we the audience are left to take it all in (whoa. Bad pun. Sorry). Towards the end the camera abruptly jerks to life and flies right into the action as the woman is beat. I definitely want to discuss the camerawork in this film.
From the very opening minutes of this film we are strikingly aware of the non-traditional and obscure camerawork that we are in for. The first 10 minutes is one-shot that travels throughout the neighborhood in the dead of night, twisting and turning all around as to completely discombobulate the viewers, and it does just that. If you juxtapose the images/content from the first act of the film with the camerawork, it makes complete sense. We are supposed to be left extremely disillusioned, unaware, and confused. We are thrown into a surrealist world of extremities and unspeakable atrocities.
The full spectrum of the human experience in regards to intimacy and love is seen throughout this film. In the beginning you have the perverse and wicked, where people are treated as unloved rag dolls; raped, murdered, and abused. In stark contrast to the end where we see true love between a young couple that is enjoying each other on a Saturday morning at home. The acting is superb throughout this film, and it really is the driving force that allows the audience to believe and wholeheartedly commit to all of the images we see.
Only see this film if you know going in that it will in some way affect you. Definitely not on my top 20 list of disturbing, impactful films, but it’s up there. It is a beautiful film, but a heavy one too.
Rating: 7.5/10
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