Reviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
IRRÉVERSIBLE
In this unconvincing drama that tries too hard to be gut-wrenching and insightful, only a rampage at a gay sex
club and an excruciating nine-minute rape scene stand out due to their violently graphic nature. The rest of
Irréversible plays out like an overly long improvisation exercise. As in Memento, the story
is narrated in reverse sequental order, taking place during the course of one night, and its simplistic theme—that
time destroys all things—is stated in the film’s beginning and end. Two white French men, the impulsive
Marcus (Cassel) and timid Pierre (Dupontel), hunt for the rapist of Marcus’s girlfriend, Alex (Belluci), at a sex
club, The Rectum. The more violently Marcus pummels one client to get him to identify the rapist, the more the
man welcomes it: “Hit me again and I’ll tell you.” Soon, a crowd watches passively as another man’s face is
pounded into pulp with a fire extinguisher. Following the rapist’s trail, Marcus attacks a Chinese taxi driver,
threatens a Latino transsexual prostitute before attacking the gay men because strangely Alex’s attacker is a gay
pimp, El Tenia (Prestia). In the rape scene, El Tenia tells Alex, as he is holding her down, “You know you’r hot for
a c---,” that she has “a real little f----- a--,” and that he normally doesn’t do this sort of thing. By having the
rapist be gay, writer/director Noé strains in making Marcus’s adversary his complete opposite. It may be
good for confict, but it is too forced and senseless. And before the violence begins, Alex, Marcus, and Pierre are on
their way to a party, endlessly rambling on about the key to good sex. Alex offers such banalities as “you have to
let yourself go.” In its attempt to be meaningful and compelling, Irréversible relies too much on
sensational shocks. Indeed, as Pierre would say, this really is B-movie revenge crap.
DVD Features: As in the film’s credit
sequence, the menu titles are also irritatingly in
reverse. Included are a soundtrack promo, two music videos, and short
teasers (trailers). Like Irréversible, these features are redundant and pointless.
Strangely, there were no deleted scenes and featurette, “The Making of
the Special Effects,” as advertised.KT
|