Booed, cursed and yet inevitable: “Irreversible” by Gaspar Noé is much more than just the scandal everyone is talking about. Instead, what awaits you here is the blood-curdling antithesis to conventional revenge films. Stream tonight.
At the premiere of “Irreversible” at the Cannes Film Festival in 2002, many guests apparently agreed that Gaspar Noé had captured a monster on the screen. In contrast to the author of these lines, the audience did not see any positive added value in this circumstance and misjudged the film in the most disrespectful way possible by booing and running away from the audience. The premiere in Cannes is also largely responsible for the fact that “Irreversible” is now perceived primarily as a scandal film.
But anyone who looks at Gaspar Noé’s film a little more intensively will experience one of the most exciting and definitive reflections on modern revenge cinema, apart from the often discussed and actually extremely cruel violent sequences. Have you missed watching “Irreversible” yet? No problem! The masterpiece is currently available, for example, on Amazon Prime Video in the paid purchase and rental version as well as on the Prime channel Arthaus+:
“Irreversible” on Amazon Prime Video*
That’s what “Irreversible” is about
First of all, a note: “Irreversible” is not told chronologically; instead, the film begins with the actual end of the story and then progresses scene by scene towards the beginning of the plot. Gaspar Noé later created the so-called straight cut of “Irreversible”, in which the film is not told in reverse chronology, but rather the events unfold in the “correct” order. Here is the synopsis of “Irreversible” in reverse chronology:
Marcus (Vincent Cassel) and Pierre (Albert Dupontel) are furiously searching a dark sado-maso club called Rectum, somewhere in Paris. They want revenge on a man. As it turns out, the man is the pimp Le Tenja (Jo Prestia), who brutally rapes the young Alex (Moniac Bellucci) in a street underpass on her way home.
Alex leaves the party where she actually wanted to have a good time with her boyfriend Marcus and her ex-lover Pierre. But since Marcus can’t control himself, a serious argument breaks out and Alex makes a decision that turns out to be a serious mistake, as is already clear at this point…
An unforgettable night
There is a simple reason why Gaspar Noé’s “Irreversible” still causes extreme reactions today, from indignation to anger: the film doesn’t make it easy for its viewers for a second. Noé uses the backwards narrative, i.e. from the end to the beginning, in order to deny not only the characters but also the audience any prospect of catharsis. This also makes it clear that “Irreversible” does not confirm conventional viewing habits through traditional storytelling methods. Instead, you are beaten out of your comfort zone.
Yes, Irreversible is a merciless monster of a film in which Marcus and Alex’s desired revenge is ultimately exactly what it should be in any good revenge film: emotionally understandable, but completely pointless. Yes, the desired revenge is actually really bitter at some point, when it becomes clear who one of the men finally vented on. And with this knowledge, “Irreversible” moves forward before we find out why the two men have gone to Rectum and are here – well – experiencing the next low point of an almost unforgettable night in Paris.
The violence shown by Gaspar Noé in “Irreversible” is undoubtedly shocking. Precisely because the audience is forced to endure them. Again and again for several minutes. A man’s skull is smashed in with a fire extinguisher until only pieces of bone are stomped into the ground. Or the rape sequence, in which the camera spends a merciless nine (!) minutes on Alex’s unimaginable suffering. But these moments are not voyeuristic, even if some viewers could of course perceive them that way.
Violence is cruel again
Instead, Noé uses the violence in “Irreversible” to express his distaste for the consumability of screen violence. The audience is condemned to watch, they have to endure the horror along with the victims. It would therefore be more appropriate to describe “Irreversible” as a borderline experience instead of repeatedly accusing it of being a pure scandal film. Here, Noé still stands for a cinema in which the audience feels defenseless against the images when he gives violence back its horror.
So if you want to face an extremely hard viewing experience that doesn’t deal with its subject in a sensational or exploitative way, but rather sees itself as the antithesis of the revenge film, you’ll get your bloodcurdling money with “Irreversible.” Rarely have (urban) fears been captured more impressively and sustainably in order to clearly show that time does not heal wounds.
Looking for more borderline experiences? Then take a look at our list of the most disturbing films of all time and get inspired:
The most disturbing films of all time
