Review of Irreversible (2002) by Prashant W — 06 May 2012

Brutal, realistic, and disorienting. This movie is told via the effective reverse expository method of memento. When the viewer finally figures out exactly what is going on, he/she will feel a sense of vertiigo as the previous events fall into place, and the brutality committed at the films beginning/end becomes something that the viewer can symapthize with.

I for one consider the actions of Cassells character to be fully justified. The film does not shy away from showing just how inhuman a rapist can be in his violent degradation. The extraordinarily beautiful Monica Bellucci is the ideal actress to portray a woman who is unfortunately caught in the wrong place at the wrong time and falls victim to a depraved pervert who lacks empathy and morality.

Gaspar Noe has a brave unflinching artistic yet realistic directorial style, and This movie along with mysterious skin are my favorites of his. Rape is a subject that is usually shied away from as the central idea for a movie, and for good reason.

Nobody likes to see such a terrible thing being done to women(aside from rapists themselves), so dont expect to enjoy this film. What the film does offer is a journey into the very heart of those whose lives are destroyed by this kind of horror, and one can only surmise that the films ending/beginning reveals the writers oppinion of the worth of such sadistic human trash.

Watch this film, and allow yourself to feel the rage of cassells character, as his whole world is destroyed by this act, he becomes a man quickly overcome by his desire for revenge. Becoming more and more unhinged as he gets closer to exacting that revenge on his deserving target.

The films only feel good moment is in that scene, where the viewer can let go and allow himself to feel just a little bit better knowing that the rapist wont live to brutalize another woman.