Irreversible

2002
Dir. by Gaspar Noe

French auteur Gaspar Noe's films are usually pretty polarizing and yet even with those that appreciate his narrative there's just an uncomfortable premise usually at play that makes recommending his films all the more difficult. Such is the case with his 2002 film Irreversible, a film about the exploitational nature of male-female relationships, taken to a very violent extreme.

Told completely with all scenes in reverse order, Irreversible is the story of Alex (Monica Bellucci), her boyfriend Marcus (Vincent Cassell) and her ex-boyfriend Pierre (Albert Dupontel). The three travel together to a party that Alex leaves in frustration, mostly at Marcus' out-of-control selfishness. On her way home she's brutally assaulted, raped, and beaten into a coma. Marcus and Pierre soon discover this has occurred and fly into a frenzy that leads them down a dark spiral of night to the violent, murderous confrontation with the assailant in a felching bar.

The assault scene on Alex dominates the film as it's 9 minutes in length and done in just about a single take. The camera doesn't cut away when the scene is at its ugliest, something typical for director Noe as he wants to force the audience to stare directly into the face of humanity at its worst, to acknowledge it and accept it (but not condone - a crucial point that's often missed in critiques of Noe's narratives) as part of humanity.

The core story here is indeed about Alex and how these three different men - her current boyfriend, her ex, and her assailant - all project some level of violence on her. The assailant is obvious, with his brutal actions and even his choice of language during the assault. His is the Id's way of base rage, anger and violence. Alex, to him, is a thing to be destroyed at his own hands, the ultimate power over another, using sex of course as his devastating weapon.

Marcus, her current boyfriend, doesn't just take her for granted but views her wants and needs as subject to his own awesomeness. His, then, is the Super-ego, forcing everything in his world to serve him and his needs as primary. Marcus does more than flirt with other girls at the party and doesn't care about the effects or consequences of his actions. And so, once his “property” has been so violently assaulted, he freaks, becoming another out-of-control version of himself, being racist and homophobic and phsyically abusive and violent in his goal of finding his worldview's version of “justice.” Alex to him exists as an object of his entitlement in the world.

Pierre, then, the ex-boyfriend, becomes the mediating Ego in this trio. His is the way of reason, not given to the extremes of the others, but seeking to use Alex as an anchor amidst his own insecurities. He's clearly still in love with her but his obsession is a self-fulfilling one: Alex, to him, is an ideal woman - beautiful, sexual, intelligent, but, ultimately, there to serve his own needs as the companion/mother figure rather than a person in her own right.

The fact that Alex is played here by one of the most beautiful women in the world is intentional casting on Noe's part. It makes the violence against her not only more extreme but, in the case of how Marcus and Pierre treat her, it becomes more grounded, a shared responsibility of the consequences of male fantasy projection onto everything that is feminine in the world. The final scenes in the film - which, here, are technically the first or establishing scenes of the film - feature just Alex on her own, discovering her pregnancy and sharing that joy alone with herself. The final shot of her in a public park, relaxed and reading, surrounded by life and light, shows her beauty for what it is, free of male interference, independent and free. Which makes the resulting brutal story all the more tragic for everyone involved.

No one character gets out of a Noe film cleanly, just like no one audience member leaves a Noe film cleanly. It's a damning statement but expertly told and relayed with intense humanity at stake.

Rating: B