I came in to this film knowing all about the hype that surrounded it . " Truly stomach churning ... I had to walk out of the theater... I've never seen anything like it in my life " . It's impossible to view this film for the first time with an open mind . Interestingly enough everyone comments on the violence while there's little written on the fact the story is told in reverse chronological order . Perhaps if IRREVERSIBLE was shot in a conventional way few people would consider it so controversial and brutal and challenging ? I'm sure this would have been the case
Imagine for a moment Gasper Noe hadn't copied Christopher Nolan's style with MOMENTO ( And to be honest Nolan hadn't invented this style because " reverse editing storytelling " had been done as far back as the silent era ) and told the story in chronological order . We'd have opened with a metaphysical quote that " Time destroys everything " , ( I'll leave it to you to decide what this means if anything ) This is followed by children playing in the park , Alex reading a book , Alex going home with a pregnancy test kit , Alex finding out she's pregnant . How long would it be before the audience start to ask themselves where all this might be going ? If the story had been constructed this way it would have led to all sorts of problems , not least that there's very little going on plot wise . Adjectives like " nauseating " could also accurately describe the cheesy love triangle making up the bulk of the film . It could be argued that the reverse chronology makes it easier to empathise with Alex's rape because if we'd seen her wearing a mini-dress some people might have thought she deserved it , but I hope this isn't the case . No one deserves that
As for the rape itself would it be sacrilege to say I've seen worse ? Certainly I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE is a film that is far more stomach churning when it comes to rape . Unlike that film however IRREVERSIBLE does have a style and a merit to it . Especially during the opening half hour where Markus and Pierre charge in to The Rectum and the audience are shown one of the most remarkable , shocking and disorientating sequences ever seen in recent cinema . Again though you have to ask why do the cops tell Pierre that he's going down for ten years ? Surely the violence was justified to stop Markus from being raped ? Again there's a problem with the plotting because does it seem so credible that Markus and Pierre would have listened to the pimp who claims he'll find The Tapeworm for them if they give him money ? Is there a subtext to this ? Is Noe saying that revenge is more important than justice ? Your guess is as good as mine
IRREVERSIBLE is a film you'll never forget . This is down to the opening half hour and has everything to do with style rather than content . When you switch off the DVD the next day and think about it then unfortunately things start to fall apart . It's also a film that will polarise the audience . If you're not sickened by the violence you'll be nauseated by the cheesy romantic aspects of the film or vice versa . All in all the use of reverse chronology is far more of a gimmick than what it was in MEMENTO
Imagine for a moment Gasper Noe hadn't copied Christopher Nolan's style with MOMENTO ( And to be honest Nolan hadn't invented this style because " reverse editing storytelling " had been done as far back as the silent era ) and told the story in chronological order . We'd have opened with a metaphysical quote that " Time destroys everything " , ( I'll leave it to you to decide what this means if anything ) This is followed by children playing in the park , Alex reading a book , Alex going home with a pregnancy test kit , Alex finding out she's pregnant . How long would it be before the audience start to ask themselves where all this might be going ? If the story had been constructed this way it would have led to all sorts of problems , not least that there's very little going on plot wise . Adjectives like " nauseating " could also accurately describe the cheesy love triangle making up the bulk of the film . It could be argued that the reverse chronology makes it easier to empathise with Alex's rape because if we'd seen her wearing a mini-dress some people might have thought she deserved it , but I hope this isn't the case . No one deserves that
As for the rape itself would it be sacrilege to say I've seen worse ? Certainly I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE is a film that is far more stomach churning when it comes to rape . Unlike that film however IRREVERSIBLE does have a style and a merit to it . Especially during the opening half hour where Markus and Pierre charge in to The Rectum and the audience are shown one of the most remarkable , shocking and disorientating sequences ever seen in recent cinema . Again though you have to ask why do the cops tell Pierre that he's going down for ten years ? Surely the violence was justified to stop Markus from being raped ? Again there's a problem with the plotting because does it seem so credible that Markus and Pierre would have listened to the pimp who claims he'll find The Tapeworm for them if they give him money ? Is there a subtext to this ? Is Noe saying that revenge is more important than justice ? Your guess is as good as mine
IRREVERSIBLE is a film you'll never forget . This is down to the opening half hour and has everything to do with style rather than content . When you switch off the DVD the next day and think about it then unfortunately things start to fall apart . It's also a film that will polarise the audience . If you're not sickened by the violence you'll be nauseated by the cheesy romantic aspects of the film or vice versa . All in all the use of reverse chronology is far more of a gimmick than what it was in MEMENTO