Irreversible -A Retro Review- Beware Spoilers!

I did a quick search on my own blog and I know I reviewed this film before, but I watched it with new eyes tonight.

This is Gaspar Noe's Irreversible. 

This is a difficult film to watch. For many reasons. 

I'm uncomfortable thinking about it, I'd better get right to...

The Poop:

A man is dragged from a gay bar beaten to a bloody pulp! Why was he there? The question is answered swiftly... he went there looking for someone... why? Because the cab he stole took him there... what cab?! And so it begins. 

Something really fucked up happens and some guy wants revenge, but we have to watch the film unfold to understand why because it's told in a reverse-linear style a la Memento. 'Cept it's french and, believe it or not, better done!

Gaspar Noe wrote, directed, edited and brought the bagels for the cast of Irreversible, his second feature film (though his first of note). He did an amazing job of penning an incredibly engrossing thriller and then rendering it on film! Thriller? For some reason that feels wrong... although I could be wrong. Everything about this movie pushes someones buttons.

And then theres the rape scene.

-------SPOILERS------- we'll let you know when it ends!

When the rape begins it feels cheesy, almost B-movie. But then it happens, and it doesn't end. 

Watching the rape scene in this film was heartbreaking for me. I cried and I'm tearing up thinking about it. The most brutal, horiffic, inhuman act... not 'act', RAPE is the only word! A woman is raped in this film in the most violent way, and in the grand scheme of the film it actually makes sense. Trust me, as I tear up just thinking about it. Allow Gaspe Noe to wash you with this film and you'll thank me in the end. If you actually have the stomach to ride this one to the end you'll be glad you did. 

-SPOILERS OVER-

All you afraid I'd ruin it can read from here. Yes, the film is about rape, but it's about more than that. 

Maybe it's about what we invest in people. Maybe it's about the boundaries we put up to protect ourselves. Maybe it's about how far we'd go to secure the ideal we keep about someone, and all the things we ignore while idealising them. 

And just maybe we want to see our ideal as flawless and so we take a slight fall, hoping they'll soon swoop in and save us. 

Irreversible is available for rent where all good artsy-rape films are sold.