Gaspar Noé's Irreversible takes the rape/revenge genre and turns it on its head, presenting events in reverse order in a stunning whirl of chaotic, somersaulting, nightmarish imagery.
We begin with the act of revenge itself: Marcus (Vincent Cassel) and Pierre (Albert Dupontel), boyfriend and best friend of rape victim Alex (Monica Belucci), hunt for the woman's attacker through the hellish bowels of gay bar The Rectum, where they are confronted by shunting, grunting males indulging in all manner of perversions, before becoming involved in a violent altercation that culminates in a nasty broken arm for Marcus, and an even nastier headache for one of the bar's patrons (as Pierre stoves the man's skull in with a fire extinguisher).
The action then travels backwards through time, allowing the viewer to witness the incidents that lead to this moment: the frenzied search for the rapist; the ugly sexual assault itself (a prolonged and harrowing spot of buggery in a lonely city underpass); the argument at a party that results in Alex leaving alone; her journey to the party with Marcus and Pierre; and Alex's delight at finding out that she is pregnant. The final shot is of Alex relaxing in a park, blissfully unaware of the horror that is soon to come.
Whereas traditional rape/revenge movies build towards a climax that is designed to evoke a primitive response from the viewer as justice is finally metered out, Noé immediately shocks his audience with extreme violence, bludgeons them further with the horrific rape, but winds things up with a serene finalé designed to deliver an entirely different kind of emotional wallop: presented with the idyllic image of a happy, carefree Alex, the viewer-already aware of the character's terrible fate-is forced to face the fragility of life, the truly abhorrent nature of violence, and the startling realisation that tragedy can strike anyone, at any moment, without warning.
We begin with the act of revenge itself: Marcus (Vincent Cassel) and Pierre (Albert Dupontel), boyfriend and best friend of rape victim Alex (Monica Belucci), hunt for the woman's attacker through the hellish bowels of gay bar The Rectum, where they are confronted by shunting, grunting males indulging in all manner of perversions, before becoming involved in a violent altercation that culminates in a nasty broken arm for Marcus, and an even nastier headache for one of the bar's patrons (as Pierre stoves the man's skull in with a fire extinguisher).
The action then travels backwards through time, allowing the viewer to witness the incidents that lead to this moment: the frenzied search for the rapist; the ugly sexual assault itself (a prolonged and harrowing spot of buggery in a lonely city underpass); the argument at a party that results in Alex leaving alone; her journey to the party with Marcus and Pierre; and Alex's delight at finding out that she is pregnant. The final shot is of Alex relaxing in a park, blissfully unaware of the horror that is soon to come.
Whereas traditional rape/revenge movies build towards a climax that is designed to evoke a primitive response from the viewer as justice is finally metered out, Noé immediately shocks his audience with extreme violence, bludgeons them further with the horrific rape, but winds things up with a serene finalé designed to deliver an entirely different kind of emotional wallop: presented with the idyllic image of a happy, carefree Alex, the viewer-already aware of the character's terrible fate-is forced to face the fragility of life, the truly abhorrent nature of violence, and the startling realisation that tragedy can strike anyone, at any moment, without warning.