Cast

Monika Belucci, Vincent Cassel, Albert Dupontel, Jo Prestia, Philippe Nahon

Film description

Prison. Massacre. Party. Rape. The story of a couple still in love, but living in a constant fight. She runs out from a party and falls victim to a violent assault. The consequences are to be even more terrifying.

Irréversible was one of the most controversial films of 2002. The tabloid press even wrote that the notorious rape scene contributed to the marital crisis of Belucci and Cassel. But above all, this is a story told in a very original way - it is made of several long (up to 15 minutes even) shots, testing the spectator's endurance not only with their disturbing and obscene subject matter, but also with the grainy texture (transformed 16 mm), little light, moved picture (hand held camera, frequently relocated), persistent low humming (28 Hz on the soundtrack). All this made some spectators run from the screening hall (publishers of the French DVD version proudly boast that about 200 people left the hall at the film's premiere at the Cannes festival. But the essence of Irréversible is not about the long shots of a violent plot, but about the anti-chronological structure. How does it affect our perception? How do characters and events evolve? What is the cause and what is the result? How does a spiral of violence develop? Can it be stopped?

Jan Topolski