film: irreversible

[L2R]

i'm inclined to agree with beatlebot. i felt this movie tried to create impact with the violence and little else. take that away and what are you left with?

alasdair

Time destroys everything.
Vengance cuts it's own head off.

plenty

 

[captainballs]

Film: Irreversible

French flick about revenge for rape (2002). Very disturbing, very hard to watch. The whole story is told backwards. What is the meaning of this film? What is the director trying to say about the human race? If you're like me, you couldn't help but notice the double-pan over the 2001: Space Odyssey poster. I think the director is trying to say something infinitely depressing about our existence, instincts, and motives as people... something that can not be reversed; something that has been destined since the big bang.

Not really expecting more than one or two responses to this post, but I would appreciate any serious thoughts/musings on this film.

 

[intothevoid]

hmm, good question. im not sure what "it means" but damn it was shocking and hard to stomach.

some of the charactores seem inherently fucked up and evil, while the good charactors are only revealed towards the end of the film, if you can last that long.

so do you think its just commenting on that age old question about human nature?
people get viciously raped fairly often and maybe there is no 'reason' or motivation for it, so maybe this is just a reflection on rela lifes nasty side? maytbe the director isnt giving us any answers just provoking us to think. very fucking dark though!

edited to make sense.

 

[AmorRoark]

This is one of the few films I proudly own. That said, I think it's about a couple ideas interplaying together. First, the effects of revenge are unforgiving. Couple that with the irreversable and devistating reality of the passing of time and you've got yourself one fantastic yet morbid flick.

 

[captainballs]

so do you think its just commenting on that age old question about human nature?

The superficial message of the movie seems to be that people are programmed to destroy each other, and revel in the pain that the destruction causes, especially on an individual basis. And the pain that all of this causes throughout time, to many people, amounts to nothing in the grand cosmic scale. Sort of like the drama that might occur in an ant bed, the suffering of bugs that find themselves surrounded by hundreds of ants, etc. It continues, unabated, and although it happens for different reasons, it is still a product of irreversible programming.

The most frightening part of the movie was the pleasure that "Tenia" got from knowing the pure nightmare that Alex was going through.

What the director is really trying to say, by throwing out this superficial, depressing message out there for us, is that too many people have accepted that this is reality. Much in the same way Bret Easton Ellis (in American Psycho) portrays an endless, hopeless society of exploitation, just as an effort to illustrate an attitude of acceptance.

Maybe. I don't know.

 

[wizekrak]

I think it's a decent movie but not great. I really didn't like the terrible camera work at the beginning. I enjoyed the fire extinguisher scene from a technical view point and the house party scene. The rest of the film didn't do much for me. I didn't really enjoy or sympathize with any of the characters

 

[Greg_Moves]

This movie was fantastic. It's not very often that I get emotionally drawn into a film (I watch too many and have zero seratonin) but I couldn't look away.

I may be wrong - it's been a good year or two since I popped it into the DVD player - but did Belluci's boyfriend's buddy smash the wrong guy's head in? I may be wrong, but I remember thinking that the Tenia was the guy laughing while the whole episode happened.

 

[Mind_Movie]

if you have this DVD don't spoil it by saying that it's a very brutal film.
just lend it to them and don't say anything

 

[alasdairm]

please do a search before starting a thread to see if a thread on the movie already exists. merged.

kthxbye

alasdair

 

[L2R]

i found much of the dialogue, which was ad-libed, annoying.

 

[captainballs]

I found that I could relate with the dorky, older friend, because I have friends like the bf who fly off the handle, act like chimps, and seem to have so much better rapport with women. I thought the musings on sex were at least a little enlightening, but that's cuz I'm like the dorky guy. :d

 

[greenacres]

i rate it.

shows 2 sides to the amp story.

 

[swilow]

This film has absolutlety shaken me. I watched it last night and literally had trouble sleeping. The rape scene was by far too literal for me, so I skipped a lot of it. The horror I felt stemmed from the fact the the scene was portrayed with such realism, the girls agony was tangible. The only thing I felt when the film ended was a deep sadness that such cruelty exists. I don't think that time destroys the significance of all things, simply removes them from the present.

It was especially confronting when the Tenia beat the fuck out her immediately after raping her, so different to the 'after-love' feelings of most people. I almost feel sorry for the Tenia, that feelings of tenderness and gentlessness have been erased and reaplced by mad violence and sadism. Such can be the nature of the world I guess, that one of the truest expression, sexual love, can be turned into its (polar?) opposite.

 

[intothevoid]

nice post!

i am interested in what happened in the tenia's past, which shaped him into this type of sub-human...?

 

[swilow]

^^^Probably more of the same, note his daddy reference during the rape.

I may be wrong - it's been a good year or two since I popped it into the DVD player - but did Belluci's boyfriend's buddy smash the wrong guy's head in? I may be wrong, but I remember thinking that the Tenia was the guy laughing while the whole episode happened.

Yeah, that seems right, when he confronts the two 'drug sniffing' men at the Rectum, the one that offers him the drug vial is the Tenia.

I am confused at to why the two guys (I think ones name is Morad??) who lead the two 'protagonists' to the Tenia are hurling such abuse at them when their being arrested/ taken in ambulance? And who were the two men at the start?

 

[swilow]

^^In answer to one of my queries, one of the two men is a butcher from one of Noe`'s earlier films who sleeps with his daughter.

 

[Tylerdurden]

It portrays well the psychological anguish of a man when his woman is raped. It's a guy's perspective on the matter and it excellently captures the anguish, blind rage and lust for revenge. We may be evolved, civilized creatures but we still are dangerous wild animals too! And it's a jungle out there sometimes

 

[mariacallas]

This DVD had been sitting on my shelf for about 6 months. Decided to watch it last night on a whim.

wow. I was completely gripped from start to end and I lost myself for about 90 minutes before getting shocked back to reality with that pulsating strobe (thank god I saw this sober) .

I'm glad I watched this with nothing in mind, a neutral approach, no expectations (the only thing I knew of was there would be a brutal rape scene...it was very graphic,but that did not really shock me)

I felt as if I'd lived through the true descent of the depravity of human nature in which a random act of violence can change peoples lives and their behaviour forever. I loved it. The ending was bittersweet and very sad..but made me glad to be alive. My emotions had gone through the wringer and I was wiped out but exhilarated.

 

[mariacallas]

This is one of the few films I proudly own. That said, I think it's about a couple ideas interplaying together. First, the effects of revenge are unforgiving. Couple that with the irreversable and devistating reality of the passing of time and you've got yourself one fantastic yet morbid flick.

again, I'm not surprised we both love it

 

[Feels]

It's a great film, very hard to sit through but worth it.