Review of Irreversible (2002) by John P — 10 May 2010

Is this really a movie anyone can enjoy?

Certainly it's one that can inspire people, and certainly the technological feats on display are deservedly talked about, but can anyone but a complete sociopath sit through this and claim that it pleased them from the standpoint of entertaining them?

I mean, I don't enjoy it, but its power is so great, its impact so strong, I can't help but regard it as one of the greatest films I've ever seen.

This film is punishment, pure and simple. It starts out as punishment, and then less than a half hour later, the viewer is punished again. And just when you've thought that you've escaped the particularly nasty bits (in case you don't know by now, this ain't for the squeamish.), you realize that the film's end (its chronological beginning) has punished you more than any rape or beating scene ever could.

"Time destroys all things" is a quote that both begins and ends the film, and its a phrase whose meaning haunts the whole thing. Any happy moment, any instance of bliss, is completely in vain, because eventually, those memories will be destroyed, replaced by something horrible.

By presenting the movie backwards (like Memento), Gaspar Noe turns what would normally be your run of the mill exploitation film, and gives us.... An exploitation film.... Albeit backwards.

But by presenting it that way, we get to know these characters at their most vulnerable. Had the film been presented in a linear fashion, we'd get to know the characters little by little, and when they exact their revenge, we'd root for them. Noe doesn't want us to root for them, so we're introduced to these guys at their most savage, their most compromised.

It says a lot about the nature of revenge, and how easily it can be fucked up... Or something.

I'm rambling. It's visceral, brutal, uncompromising, and unforgettable. And you should see it if you can stomach it.