Irreversible (2003)

"Powerful and profound.  Rex Reed, New York Observer
"A very artfully conceived disturbance with a lot on its mind.  Bob Strauss, Los Angeles Daily News

Editor's Note After what would normally be the end credits (which run backwards), IRREVERSIBLE begins with a heated hunt through a gay S&M club. It is a chaotic sequence shot from a wildly spiraling camera seamlessly edited together to appear as one single shot and culminating in one of the most violent murders ever portrayed on celluloid. Following this crescendo, Gaspar Noe's (I STAND ALONE) film uses a reverse narrative structure similar to MEMENTO through which the audience learns the motivations for the murder and the relationships of three parties directly involved, the beautiful Alex (Monica Bellucci) and two men who adore her (Vincent Cassel and Albert Dupontel). The frenzied style of the opening gives way to increasingly static camera work throughout leading to an idyllic final shot of Alex, who the audience has long known is a doomed woman, set to Beethoven and alive with color and youthful innocence otherwise absent from this bleak urban nightmare. The film disregards conventional editing by ending each scene with a dizzying camera whirl. Since each scene is intended to look like a single take (although there are seamless cuts throughout), this gives the film the appearance of one continuous shot.

	Albert Dupontel
	Jo Prestia
	Monica Belluci
	Vincent Cassel
	Benoit Debie - Cinematographer
	Gaspar Noe - Cinematographer
	Gaspar Noe - Director
	Gaspar Noe - Editor
	Christophe Rossignon - Producer
	Gaspar Noe - Screenplay

Sight and Sound
"...A seductive and powerful film..." 03/01/2003 p.47-8

Rolling Stone
"...Noe's considerable accomplishment is to examine the relationship between life and art, time and memory. IRREVERSIBLE means to knock you for a loop. It does..." 03/14/2003 p.74

Entertainment Weekly
"...An amazing, and profoundly disturbing, experience....[Noe is] a new kind of film wizard: a poet of apocalyptic shock..." 03/14/2003 p.45

Premiere
"...This confrontationalist is a moviemaker worth confronting..." 04/01/2003 p.20

Chicago Sun-Times
"...Moral at a structural level..." 03/23/2003 p.5

Total Film
"...Taken as an exploitation flick -- Noe's preference -- this is 100 effective, guaranteed to shock and pummel..." 07/01/2003 p.120

Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
As I said twice and will repeat again, most people will not want to see the film at all. It is so violent, it shows such cruelty, that it is a test most people will not want to endure. But it is unflinchingly honest about the crime of rape. It does not exploit. It does not pander. It has been said that no matter what it pretends, pornography argues for what it shows. Irreversible is not pornography. - Roger Ebert

James Berardinelli's ReelViews 9 of 10
An individual's appreciation of Irreversible will be based in part upon what he or she expects from movies. Those seeking light entertainment or something traditional and/or civilized probably won't make it through Irreversible's 99 minutes. Those up to a challenge who attend with an open mind will find something to gnaw at the soul. Whatever else it may be, Irreversible is disturbingly unforgettable. It is impossible to have a blase reaction to a film this visceral. Indifference is not an option. - James Berardinelli