Irreversible

1. Directed by Gaspar Noé, this film is usually considered to be part of the New French Extremity movement in cinema, which is a confrontational type of French filmmaking comprised of explicit sex, extreme physical cruelty, psychological trauma, and a nihilistic attitude. This movie checks off all four of those boxes.2. Film critic Roger Ebert summarized the film by saying, "Irreversible is a movie so violent and cruel that most people will find it unwatchable." But he wasn't telling people not to watch it. If you read his full review, you realize that he understood what Noé was doing.3. The thing you need to know up front is that the movie is shown in reverse chronological order. It begins with the ending credits, then shows the final scene, then the climax, and so on, through the most excruciating rape scene that I've ever seen, and back to the beginning.4. Some people (especially the ones that haven't seen it) accuse the movie of being pornographic and accepting of rape culture. But by going backwards, and showing all the violence and depravity before the buildup instead of after, the movie becomes the opposite of pornography. And it's most definitely anti-rape.5. There is a brief discussion among the characters about time and whether everything that happens is destined to happen. This movie shows us the consequences of people's choices before the choice itself, so it's not as easy to reject that notion as it may seem.And not very many people seem to catch the movie's biggest apparent contradiction - the movie is called Irreversible... but we watch it in reverse order. This movie messes with your head on all levels.6. As the movie goes backwards, and we see the three main actors in happier and happier scenes, we get a very odd sense of despair, because we know what's going to happen to them, but the characters don't. They make little jokes that would have seemed funny or cute if we had watched the movie in the traditional sense; but knowing what we do, those jokes are awkward and disturbing.7. Not only does the film happen backwards, but director Gaspar Noé, uses dizzying camera work and lighting effects to show the breaks between scenes in such a way that the whole movie seems to be shot in one long camera movement.8. What's often lost in all the controversy and wildness of the film are the performances themselves. In particular, Vincent Cassell and Monica Bellucci are absolutely amazing in their roles as the boyfriend and girlfriend who are tossed into hell in the space of about 30 minutes.9. Irreversible was a transformative experience for me. Noé makes this film dizzying, disorienting, disgusting, and disturbing. But it's also an awe-inspiring piece of art and philosophy, and bears up under scrutiny. Each time I force myself to watch it again, I find some other new tidbit makes the movie even more relevant - for the art of cinema, and for myself.

First of all I must say that this is one of the best foreign films ever made and definitely the best of the 21st century. It is hard to categorize this film because it definitely has in its first 40 to 50 minutes elements of a horror film. The ominous siren wail when the two main characters are trying to find a very sick individual, a few scenes of extreme violence and the shocking conclusion. To me though I think the film really is a drama, well a psycho human drama but I will leave that one up to the viewer because this film is very hard to place in a category. I must say though that there are only a few films that shock me and they are all mostly horror films. This is the first film that is not horror to me that after viewing felt like a sledgehammer to the face. Gaspar Noe's other films do not even come close to the fierce realism of this one. It is a brutal and honest yet disturbing look at human actions and reactions. This film is not for children and I do not care if as a parent you let them view gory horror films. Do not let innocent eyes grace the screen while this one is on. The film has some extreme shots of homosexual men doing they're thing so that alone should make it an adult film only, not to mention the the few scenes of gruesome violence. But the rape scene is the worst rape ever to grace a scene. Especially after the first viewing but it seems to never get any easier with additional screenings. Noe is a genius filmmaker just for the camerawork in his films not to mention the storylines his films deal with. They take a viewer where they have never been before (hopefully) and that is the find of directors we need to see more of these days. Wish Noe would make more films, because any film he would make would be a great film I know. After viewing this film my jaw was slacked for hours, and I thought of the film the whole night when I was trying to sleep. A film that does that to me is in my opinion real art. The only other films that have ever done that to me is Texas Chinsaw (1974) and Hellraiser. Happy viewing

The movie itself deals with one tragic scene impaled upon the viewer. Well done for the shock value. Leaves an impression.

I am reviewing the product NOT the film, as I have never seen it. This disc is "printed and manufactured in Australia. . . " It says so on the actual blu-ray. It's really frustrating that the vendors do not make this clear. Australia (and certain other parts of the world) use the PAL format. North America (and certain other parts of the world) use the NTSC format. This disc will NOT play in your standard player found in North America. Yes, I'm aware there some hacks and/or additional equipment/procedures you can use to make it happen. Sony Blu-ray players are not really that easy to do this with, so I'm just making it clear: this disc will NOT play in the vast majority of players found in the United States. Buy it if you want to, but this should be mentioned somewhere in the item description. The fact that it is not is a disingenuous move by the vendor.

Bon

Historia fuerte, cruda. Actuaciones fantásticas. Muy recomendable!

Buenísima película. Dura y agobiante. Me hubiera gustado que estuviera en españos sin subtítulos. Vicent Cassel se sale, guapísimo de joven.

やや画像が暗く感じた。

I really enjoyed this movie. It is incredibly disturbing in some parts as well, so only for a very mature adult audience.It is done in reverse chronological order, so all the scenes are in backwards order. You start at the end of the movie and work your way to the beginning.This movie has very beautiful and uplifting scenes, and some incredibly mortifying and repulsive scenes. It really is a bit of everything. Theres a lot of interesting themes and ideas in it, and I have watched it several times as I am a huge fan of gaspar noe.If you enjoyed Irreversible, check out his other films: I Stand Alone and Enter the Void.