Irréversible (2002)

Directed by

Gaspar Noé

Genre

drama film, crime film, LGBTQ-related film, rape and revenge film

Country

France

Runtime

1h 37m

Rated

NR

Rating

7.2 of 10 from 3,349 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

Two men in Paris search for the man who raped and beat the woman they love. The story unfolds in reverse chronological order over a single night.

harrowingvisceralrelentlessdisorientingbleakfeverishnauseatingtraumaticbrutal

What happens

Irréversible (French: [iʁevɛʁsibl]) is a 2002 French art thriller film written, directed, and edited by Gaspar Noé, who also served as co-cinematographer with Benoît Debie. It depicts the events of one night in Paris as two men (Vincent Cassel and Albert Dupontel) attempt to avenge the brutal rape and beating of the woman they love (Monica Bellucci). The film is made up of a title sequence followed by 14 segments made to look like long takes, each of which is either a continuous shot or a series of shots digitally composited to resemble a continuous shot. The story is told in reverse order. Theatrically released in France, the United Kingdom and the United States, Irréversible competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival where around 200 people walked out of the screening. It won the Bronze Horse at the Stockholm International Film Festival. Critical reception was polarised, with praise towards the performances and Noé's direction, but criticism towards its graphic portrayal of violence and rape. American film critic Roger Ebert called Irréversible "a movie so violent and cruel that most people will find it unwatchable". A recut version of the film putting the narration in chronological order, Irreversible: Straight Cut (French: Irréversible – Inversion intégrale), was screened in 2019 at the 76th annual Venice International Film Festival. This was later released in US theatres on a limited run in 2023. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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