IRRÉVERSIBLE
Directed by: Gaspar Noé.
Produced by: Christophe Rossignon.
Written by: Noé.
Director of Photography: Benoît Debie & Noé.
Edited by: Noé.
Music by: Thomas Bangalter.
Released by: Lions Gate.
Country of Origin: France. 95 min. Unrated.
With: Monica Bellucci, Vincent Cassel, Albert Dupontel & Jo Prestia.
DVD Features: Soundtrack Extras. English & Spanish subtitles. Teasers. Trailers.

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.
May 12, 2003

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
August 10, 2003