rating:
(out of
4 stars)France; 2002
Directed by Gaspar Noé; produced by Christophe Rossignon; written by Gaspar Noé
Starring Monica Bellucci, Vincent Cassel, Albert Dupontel, Jo Prestia, Philippe Nahon, Stéphane Drouot
If 'The Passion of the Christ' is called the most violent film ever made it is only because it is close to non-stop violence for about two hours. 'Irréversible', a good film I must admit, contains two of the most horrible scenes I have ever seen in fiction, but together the scenes are only fifteen minutes long. I say only fifteen minutes, but those fifteen minutes seem to last forever. This film is most definitely not for everyone. For almost nobody actually, but those who can stand it should watch it to get a very true film about the crime of rape.
The story is told backwards and that gives the film sort of a happy ending. If it was played chronological it was going to end with the two disturbing scenes, now the happy things are saved for last and so you can feel a little, just a little, better after seeing this. The film opens with two men, Marcus (Vincent Cassel) and Pierre (Albert Dupontel), searching in a gay sex club for a guy who they probably want to hurt. You can see that they are upset, especially Marcus. With a hand-held constantly moving camera and music that really makes you sick, we see how Marcus finds a guy, we are not really sure whether it is the right one, has his arm broken and almost got raped. It is Pierre who helps Marcus and beats the rapist with a fire extinguisher until his head is smashed to pulp. Believe me, the film leaves nothing for the imagination of the viewer. The camera is almost participating in the beating, never losing Pierre and the beaten man out of its sight.
After this scene we see what has lead up to this. We learn that Marcus' girlfriend is raped and beaten almost to death and the rape itself is the second horrible scene. The camera just watches for nine minutes how the girlfriend, Alex (Monica Bellucci), is raped. When the rape is over she is beaten into a coma and during the beating the camera again comes to life. After those scenes the film tells a little more of that day, what has happened before. Slowly the music and camera, together with the images, become more happy and a lot more easy to watch. If you have watched the first two horrible scenes, not left or turned the film off, you should finish the film. If you do so you have seen an honest, disturbing, highly violent movie with great acting that is made with some great techniques, including cinematography, visuals of the violence and the editing.
Again I will say this is a good film, very well made, but I will also say I will never want to see it again. That is what I think now and the chance is small I will change my mind in the years to come. It says enough about the two violent scenes because 'The Passion of the Christ' is a film I could sit through again, and probably even will.