Review of Irreversible (2002) by Nicholas R — 19 May 2009

Irreversible is definitely a film to write home about. Very notorious, and for good reason too.

The film's shown in reverse chronological order (so each scene ends where the previous scene would have started) and shows in graphic detail just how quickly a night can go from bad to worse (or in the case of the way it's shown, how quickly a night can go from awful to perfectly fine...).

The films shot in a really interesting way, using a hand held camera, the operator has this free reign to shoot however and whatever way he wants. At the beginning of the film this is a very frenetic and delusional manner (imagine if Cloverfield's camera operator was on Acid), but by the end of the film, during its quieter moments the camera has slowed and is almost conventional in its set up and coverage.

There are two notorious scenes that are show in very different ways. The first scene is sequence in a Gay nightclub (called The Rectum!!!) where a man has his head caved in with a fire extinguisher. Now the camera is so frazzled and all over the place that as horrific as it is, a lot of it is also left up to you to guess, "did I just see that?!". Not for the faint hearted indeed. The other very notorious scene is the 15/20 minute rape scene. Shot in a totally different manner to the nightclub sequence, the camera sits at ground level, looking from afar, almost as if you're being forced to watch this horrible act like some deranged voyeur. It's tough viewing, and yet it's not the worse thing in the film. What made the film so heart breaking was the very final few scenes (chronologically the start of the story) where a really beautiful revelation is made. Through it the rest of the story's events are made all the more tragic.

Superbly acted by Bellucci and Cassel (two of my favourite European actors), and made in such an intriguing manner.

The reason I gave it 4 out of 5 instead of the full 5 stars is because I found that the film meandered during the final third before the final few scenes. It's this that causes the massive impact of the final revelation to be lost slightly. I left the film thinking about it and then realising the implications of it all, where as if these scenes, which are essentially just filler were removed then the full force of the revelation would have been felt.