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Irreversible
Lions Gate Films Inc.

6.8 based on 38 reviews Read critic reviews How did we calculate this? based on 25 votes Read user comments Rate this movie

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• Official French Site

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Monica Bellucci, Vincent Cassel, Albert Dupontel, Philippe Nahon, Jo Prestia, Stéphane Drouot, Jean-Louis Costes, and Mourad Khima

A dark revenge drama about a woman who is brutally raped and the retribution her boyfriend exacts.

GENRE(S):	Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Gaspar Noé
DIRECTED BY:	Gaspar Noé
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: August 5, 2003  Video: August 5, 2003  Theatrical: March 7, 2003
RUNNING TIME:	95 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	France
LANGUAGE(S):	French (with English subtitles)

Original French title "Irréversible"; Winner, Bronze Horse, 2002 Stockholm Film Festival

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

91

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

After a while, a didactic overdeliberateness seeps into Noé's design, but there's no doubt that he's a new kind of dark film wizard: a poet of apocalyptic shock.

88

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The moral of Irreversible -- time destroys everything -- isn't nearly as profound as writer-director Gaspar Noé seems to think it is, which is why some critics have already dismissed the movie as the facile, misogynistic posturings of a provocateur.

88

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Whatever else it may be, Irreversible is disturbingly unforgettable. It is impossible to have a blasé reaction to a film this visceral. Indifference is not an option.

88

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

It would be easy and convenient to dismiss Irreversible as blatant sensationalism. But Noe's bruising film is too artfully crafted to write off as exploitation.

80

Variety Lisa Nesselson

A demanding but rewarding emotional odyssey in a challenging visual package.

80

LA Weekly John Powers

Noé calls Irreversible his "Eyes Wide Shut," though it's really more like "A Clockwork Orange."

75

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

"Time destroys all," claims the film, but the monstrous capabilities of human evil is the real culprit here, and Noe is determined to prove that the real evil that men do is not fodder for cinematic spectacle and cinematic entertainment.

75

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Noe's despairing view of human nature is as thoughtful as it is grim, limning the most appalling aspects of earthly experience in terms recalling Dante and Bosh, among other apocalyptic artists.

75

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

An integrated work whose form clearly mirrors its content. Often, looking into that mirror is dreadful; but, often enough, it's also dreadfully revealing.

75

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The fact is, the reverse chronology makes Irreversible a film that structurally argues against rape and violence, while ordinary chronology would lead us down a seductive narrative path toward a shocking, exploitative payoff.

75

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Made with disarming craft and cunning. Intermixed in the memories it leaves of horror and disgust are glimpses of impressive technique and savvy psychological insight.

70

Film Threat Dan Wible

Let me set the record straight: Gaspar Noé is the real deal. Is he excessive? Yes. Manipulative? Sure. Pretentious? Absolutely. But, he’s also one of the most exciting filmmakers on the planet.

70

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

Noé shoots his sequences in long, unbroken takes, and the unblinking horror that results is, I think, the opposite of exploitation. There has been so much lurid bloodletting in the movies that you might think nothing could faze us anymore. Think again.

70

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

There are strong ideas at play in Noé's undeniably audacious and technically stunning second feature, which goes as far as any film can in revealing the breakdown of order and the deterioration of the rational mind.

70

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

Noé isn't a kid (he'll turn 40 this year) but he's still young as a filmmaker; he may yet learn to control his desire to sear the audience's eyes out with a red-hot poker before he's even started telling a story.

67

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Viewers should be warned that Irréversible means what it says: Your experience of this movie can not be forgotten once the die is cast.

63

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Once you're past THOSE scenes, and come to know the context and characters involved, you'll find something both deeply humanist and emotionally complex.

63

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

About halfway through Irreversible comes the longest sustained act of violence I've seen onscreen.

63

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

What's wrong is the decision to let all the actors improvise their lines...At the end, Irreversible looks less like captured or even distorted life than an acting class.

60

Film Threat Tim Merrill

Anyone with a weak heart or a queasy stomach should stay away. In fact, most everyone everywhere should stay away. But if you still want to see Irreversible, be prepared to see images that will upset and disturb you for a long, long time. Be prepared to be shaken to the very core.

60

TV Guide Ken Fox

Whether you take the film as a deliberately vile act of filmmaking that unpacks rape-revenge scenarios while making a point about male desire, or simply as a deliberately vile piece of filmmaking, one thing is certain: It's about as close to a physical assault on viewers as movies get.

60

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

What we have here is a genuine outlaw work of art.

50

USA Today Mike Clark

To cut Noe a break, it does become evident that he has a viable narrative concept. Told backward, á la "Memento."

50

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

Even if you closed your eyes -- a tempting option -- you would still know that you were in the hollering presence of pain. The story is undiluted dread. [10 March 2003, p. 94]

40

Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis

Noé, with his Nietzsche-for-knuckleheads nihilism and extreme-cinema ambitions, clearly fancies himself a visionary, but mounting a camera on a roller coaster or putting a story into rewind doesn't make a film formally adventurous or interesting. Conceiving of a gay club as an antechamber to the inferno and sexualizing a woman's rape, however, do make it titillating.

40

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

To get to the beginning, one must first get through the end, which is almost literally unendurable.

40

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Stupid, vicious, and pretentious, though you may find it worth checking out if you want to experiment with your own nervous system.

40

The New York Times A.O. Scott

Though Mr. Noé displays prodigious filmmaking technique, his punk-operatic meditation on life, love, anger and -- most important -- guilt is superficially inventive, but singularly adolescent.

38

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Noe's summation is an ideological sucker-punch from a filmmaker who gets off on abusive relationships. He may as well have thrown a big ''whatever'' up on the screen.

30

Newsweek David Ansen

Irreversible takes an adolescent pride in its own ugliness. “I Stand Alone" told me something about the world; this one tells me more than I want to know about the calculating mind of its maker.

30

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Fails because of its gratuitous rape and violence and also because of its pretentious and intellectually one-dimensional grounds, which make the violence at the end feel even worse.

30

Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf

What isn't hard to say is that Noé really isn't a very talented filmmaker.

25

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Maybe, you think, there is something daring and brilliant going on here: an excursion into the darkest territories of the human soul. But no. In the end -- or the beginning -- there is no point to all this. Or at least not a point worth making, and making us watch.

25

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Irreversible, though, is not a Kubrickian head trip. All Noe has come up with is a turn-on for sadists.

25

San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann

Noe isn't a graceful filmmaker. He wants to traumatize his audience, barnstorm us, make us pay in anxiety and sweat and scorched nerves for the ugly truths he wants us to swallow.

20

Slate David Edelstein

The 12 scenes of Irreversible--each shot in a single, semi-improvised take--constitute something of a tour de force. But so would being dragged through the streets by a wire noose.

10

Village Voice J. Hoberman

From the end to the beginning--or is it from the inadvertently ridiculous to the would-be sublime?--Noé's stunt is an exploitation movie with a gimmick, not to mention a vacuous philosophy.

0

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Truthfully, it's all incredibly boring. Noé tosses in some dime-store existentialism ("Time destroys everything"), but this is a movie with not a whole lot on its mind except rank exploitation.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.8 (out of 10) based on 25 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

John O gave it a0:
At the film's conclusion I was just left asking myself what the point was. There was no discernible justification for the brutality that I could see. Whatever argument Noe was trying to make is lost in his complete contempt for the audience. If, as he claims, he is so influenced by Kubrick, I suggest he stop throwing his rattle out of the pram and start posing his arguments with a little more maturity and reason.

D. Cabral gave it a0:
Bad. Not a Drama genre, more like horror exploitation like Last House on the Left. Sometimes less is more, Noe knows this when it comes to art so featuring 2 over the top horrendously VIOLENT scenes rather than the entire movie featuring scene after scene of cruel vicious, imagery. This will leave you with a worst impact since exploitation films try too hard to do what this one accomplishes. Why can this one accomplish its shock? Because the film is targeting an audience that are not fans of such "films."

Tyler C. gave it a0:
This is just simply a horrible french remake of Momento, which came out a year before this stupid film did, and was a hundred times better than this was.

duf d. gave it a10:
I'm giving it a 10 because it was so distinct, but part of the film's distinction is that numbers don't apply to it. I really don't care whether the film meant anything or if it supposedly made some point about time destroying everything. What I cared about was that it was a different kind of watch, it went about making a film in a different way, that it serves as a kind of reference point. The disorienting and violent effects made cinematic sense as the movie progressed. And it's a very well made movie. Why can't art be a slap in the face once in a while? There's plenty of Hollywood movies with sexy violence, this violence was truly horrifying. What's more honest?

holy wood gave it a9:
Unforgettable!

Andrew M gave it a 7:
Over the past couple of months I have written many (let me stress this) 'amateur' reviews on this site. Like, I am sure, a lot of people, the films I had only just watched the night before and therefore were still fresh in my mind. I watched Irreversible over a week ago and, to put it mildly, it is still garden fresh in my mind! I have been thinking about it all week and trying to decide exactly how I feel / felt about it. My answer: I dunno, still. Hopefully in writing this I will become a little clearer myself. I have copped out a little by giving it a 7 - at different times over the past few days it has been both a 10 and a 2. Anyway, I will just natter a little here about a couple of points, rather than trying to dissect it and probe too deeply. Well... firstly, I have never ever seen violence so graphically, realistically and confrontationally depicted on the screen before. It was absolutely demanding to watch. It was utterly appalling. It was completely remarkable. I am, of course, referring to those two particular and much-discussed scenes. The revenge and the rape. Technically, the revenge scene is extremely impressive filmmaking. I am so glad they included on the dvd a short featurette of the SFX in the film, otherwise I would have been convinced I was watching an actual snuff movie! Simply put, it's that real. In a Hollywood film, the camera would have jumped around, in-out, top-bottom, showing you a sped-up montage of the attack, before fading or cutting to whatever followed. Not so these French fellows. Bang - the camera stops - and you just watch! Afterwards, if you're like me, you'll reach down between your feet and pick your jaw up off the floor. I'm not going to moralise and say whether it was necessary - I just want to say it was brilliantly done, and horrendously powerful. Next, the rape scene. Words can't describe how I felt after witnessing it. I say 'witness' because that's exactly how I felt. For ten loooong minutes I ceased to be a viewer, and I became a witness! I have read that some people become physically sick watching this scene. I dismissed that, thinking they must simply be a little timid or weak about such strong scenes on film. Well, I was wrong. After watching it, I found myself sweating, shaking a little, and generally feeling unwell all over. I had to stop the film, go to the bathroom and splash water on my face. Over the years, I have seen most of the classic horror films and many many films depicting strong violence. Never have I reacted so to any one scene! It is just that hideous and cruel. Words can't describe. The worst part for me is the last couple of minutes or so, when the rapist's rage really explodes and the attack turns to battery. What he does will stay in my mind for a long time. And it's only fictional!!! Like the revenge scene Noe stops the camera dead, lowers it the floor, putting you face-to-face with animal and victim, insisting that you simply just watch! Again, think how Hollywood would have handled it... Just a couple of other points... 1) the camera work in the first half hour is particularly dizzying, almost nauseating. I didn't like it, but now grudgingly admit it was suitable for the scenes, and actually supported the film's assertions. But, boy, it was hard to watch. I had to look away many times just to alleviate the spinning of my eyes... 2) there was a scene depicting racism in the film - it was totally unnecessary and did not serve the plot nor theme of the work...please explain Mr Noe!?... 3) on a positive note, there is no doubt Noe's decision to shoot the film backwards was the right one. Imagine if it ran chronologically! Clearly, it would have turned out much different and, indubitably, much weaker... 4) even with everything I have mentioned, the second half or so of the film is a joy to watch. The camera relaxes, the lights go up, the settings become infinitely more appealing, the character emotions become more palatable, the script becomes untailored and somewhat improvisational... and all this really, really drives home the nightmare that is the first half. One must credit Noe. It is very skillfully made in many ways. The question is: did this film ever need to be made at all? Personally, I think it did. I honestly don't know if I will ever watch it again. I know I don't really want to...but I may still do so. What I do know is that it really is truly irreversible...hear me, for once you watch it, you will never ever forget it!

Peter O. gave it a 5:
If you are a sado-msochist you will enjoy this movie. The brutal rape scene depicted in the movie was too long for my taste. The exceessive violence was ialso n poor taste. The movie was banned in a lot of countries then the decisions got reversed to be shown in art houses. A revenge murder movie along with a brutal rape scene; I have never seen such a shocking movie like this before. I was apalled at the terrible camara work, you will get dizzy as there is no focus throughout the movie.

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