Review of Irreversible (2002) by Rodney S — 04 Oct 2009

Contains SPOILERS....

Of course, any review you read about this infamous movie, talks mainly about the brutal rape scene, and the gimic of the story going in reverse, ala "Memento". First of all, this is easier for me to follow than my first viewing of "Memento", so I can't really compare the gimmick. Of course, after the film ends (or actually begins), it's almost mandatory to go back to the beginning (actually the end), to figure out what was going on. The start of the movie is a real mind trip, going through the catacombs of a gay S&M club called RECTUM, which was pretty disgusting to say the least, and then catch up with the rape victims boyfriend, and ex-boyfriend, as they finally run down the rapist. But as you see with the second viewing, the very very graphic head smashing is the wrong guy, so it kind of makes the whole story pretty pointless. As in "I Stand Alone", nothing is resolved. The movie then follows on until we see the aftermath of the rape attack, and then the brutal unflinching anal rape and brutal beating of the victim. As far as a film experience, I really like these gimicky movies, with a lot of pounding audio and use of strobe lighting to mentally challenge the viewer. The rape scene itself is pretty brutal, not all that graphic, but by far not the worse I've seen. "Red to Kill" is much much worse, imo. All in all, I don't think "Irreversible" is that great of a movie, there is really not much story and nothing is resolved at all, so what you have, is a mind fuck movie experience. And on that level, it succeeds very very well. The flashing strobes at the end of the movie, almost puts you in a trance, and immediatley going back to the first ten minutes of the film, basically tells you everything you need to know. And any movie that uses Beethoven's 7th Symphony Second Movement is ok with me. The MOH episode "Fair Haired Child" also used that at the beginning.