Irreversible (movie)

Audience reaction, to both the very lengthy violent sexual attack and a disquietingly brutal murder, has been shocked outrage, abhorrence, to leaving the theater in disgust. A great many women, and men, turn away at times during the film. Yet, fans of the movie state the violence as pictured is essential to the story and give the film acclaim.

Irreversible won the "Bronze Horse" award at the Stockholm Film Festival and was nominated for the Golden Palm[?] at the Cannes Film Festival.

The film stars:

• Monica Bellucci[?] - Alex
• Vincent Cassel - Marcus
• Albert Dupontel[?] - Pierre

Warning: Wikipedia contains spoilers

The story is of two men (Alex and Pierre) who seek revenge following the rape of the girlfriend of one of the men. The film is set in an unnamed French city over the course of one day. The story is told in reverse chronology in thirteen sections each around five minutes in length. The beginning of the film (i.e. the end of the timeline in the film) contains many distorted images and rapidly, freely moving and rotating cameras creating a sense of chaos. Over the course of the film (i.e. moving backwards in the timeline of the film) the imagery becomes steadily calmer, intending to reinforce the tagline of the film, that over time things become more chaotic.

Relatively early in the film, the two men find the man they believe raped Alex's girlfriend. In a scene that has provoked strong criticism for its violence, the apparent rapist is repeatedly battered with a fire extinguisher and finally left for dead. As the film progresses we see the rape, and learn that the man killed was not the rapist. The rape scene, at nine minutes in length, has been widely criticised for its extreme and prolonged mixture of sex and violence. More cynical observers have argued that such criticism was just what the filmmakers wanted; providing valuable free publicity for the film.

Newsweek Magazine[?] stated that this was the most walked-out-of movie of the year.