Review of Irreversible (2002) by Joe W — 19 Nov 2012

Irreversible is one of the most violent movies I have ever seen. In this statement I am not forgetting movies like "A Clockwork Orange", "Hostel", and the "Saw" franchise. I can argue that these films are less violent than this one. There is something very naturalistic about the violence in "Irreversible". When it rains, it pours. That being said, the movie does not gravitate to excess violence. That does not, however, stop it from being ultra-violent. The camera unflinchingly never moves during a rape scene. The shot holds absolutely steady for over 10 minutes. This is probably one of the most violent and disturbing things you will see in modern cinema. There is something much more disturbing about something like rape than, say, a person being subjected to unimaginable tortures. The movie makes this very realistic, so that we see that this can happen to anyone.

The story is told backwards. This serves to help convey the message of the piece. At the beginning of the story, we see a couple very much in love, living together. We see them over the course of a day or so. They meet up with one of the girl's ex-boyfriends, and they go to a party. The girl (Monica Belucci) leaves first. She is then stopped in a dimly lit subway hallway and is raped. This scene is extremely brutal. It is unwatchable, for most people. It is cruelty to the extreme. After this the boyfriend (Cassel) and her ex-boyfriend go together to find the rapist. They come to a club, and the boyfriend accidentally beats up the wrong person.

The story is tragic. So much treachery. It shows how unpredictable life can be. It shows a day in the life of two ordinary people, how tragic and violent it could turn, just because someone was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The film is disturbing in this sense, because it shows us that this can happen to anyone.

This is as realistic of a movie as you could ask for. It is in the trend of naturalistic cinema. In the early 1960's and late 50's in post-WW2 Europe, a new style of film was developing. It developed primarily out of France. Some films from this era are Jean-Luc Godard's "Breathless", "Francois Truffaut's "The 400 Blows", and Vittorio De Sica's "Bicycle Thieves". These films helmed a more realistic style of film. Shots were longer, plots were quite simple and realistic. These films were aimed to paint a more realistic picture of life in cinema.

A new genre has been emerging in France since the beginning of the 21st Century. Film critics refer to it as "New French Extremity". This is one of the key movies in this film movement. Another extremity film I found to be absolutely innovative and extraordinary is another film by Gaspar Noe, "Enter the Void". Irreversible is quite an achievement in the pursuit of naturalism. It is like real life. The shots rarely end. And if they do, they fade into each other, like a wave. They go through walls, over buildings.

The thing that is remarkable about Irreversible is how profoundly realistic it is. Like I said, however, that does not mean by any stretch that it refrains from showing ultra-violence. For the longest time, Hollywood has avoided showing the horrors of life. What we see is a theatrical dramatization of the events we experience in life. In this movie, and in the Extremity movement, we see a more naturalistic approach. This makes all events depicted in the film all the more effective.