08-23-2009, 12:51 AM
Irreversible directed by Gaspar Noe (French -- 2002)
The movie opens with bizarre music and an alley scene that slowly shifts about and zooms in and out. It's disorienting to the point of nausea, effectively setting the mood for the first real scene, which I can't tell you much about -- because the narrative is presented in reverse (a la Memento) and the opening is really the ending. And I shouldn't give that away. What I will say is that the opening scenes are full of repulsive characters spewing racial and homophobic slurs -- the stuff of hate crimes -- after which things turn really nasty.
The centerpiece of this movie is a brutal and controversial 9-minute rape scene, and the rest of the movie shows what led up to it, and then the aftermath -- but all told in reverse.
Irreversible has a surprisingly upbeat ending. This was a refreshing change from recent movies, and I was about to post a more positive review than of late. But then I got to thinking, which wasn't a good idea. Ignorance is bliss, after all. Here's where my thoughts led.
There've been arguments up the whazoo over whether Irreversible's reverse chronology is gimmicky or intrinsic to the theme. After lots of reflection, I've decided it's the latter. Because of the reverse chronology, we see horrific acts by the main characters before understanding why they're doing it. And we're thinking, Nothing could excuse this behavior. When the rape eventually occurs, which is incredibly repulsive, we struggle to cling to that earlier sentiment that nothing excuses horrific acts of violence. In essence, the director forces us to wrestle with the question, Are extreme acts of violence ever warranted? And he may very well have tricked us. Because in the opening, our answer would have been no, but after the rape, many if not most of us would have had a change of heart.
In that light, the upbeat scene at the end shows humans as we want to be seen, as good and happy, loving and lovable. But in the director's eye, it's a facade. Humans at their core are emotionally fragile and genetically predisposed to demonizing other humans at the drop of a hat and turning murderously hateful. This is the nature of humanity, and why we will always have wars until we wipe ourselves out. That, I believe, is the real message of the movie.
Taking that into consideration, the ending's happiness must be inverted and magnified, becoming a gloom a hundred times darker than the blackest night...
And yes, this was the most depressing movie I've ever seen.
The movie opens with bizarre music and an alley scene that slowly shifts about and zooms in and out. It's disorienting to the point of nausea, effectively setting the mood for the first real scene, which I can't tell you much about -- because the narrative is presented in reverse (a la Memento) and the opening is really the ending. And I shouldn't give that away. What I will say is that the opening scenes are full of repulsive characters spewing racial and homophobic slurs -- the stuff of hate crimes -- after which things turn really nasty.
The centerpiece of this movie is a brutal and controversial 9-minute rape scene, and the rest of the movie shows what led up to it, and then the aftermath -- but all told in reverse.
Irreversible has a surprisingly upbeat ending. This was a refreshing change from recent movies, and I was about to post a more positive review than of late. But then I got to thinking, which wasn't a good idea. Ignorance is bliss, after all. Here's where my thoughts led.
There've been arguments up the whazoo over whether Irreversible's reverse chronology is gimmicky or intrinsic to the theme. After lots of reflection, I've decided it's the latter. Because of the reverse chronology, we see horrific acts by the main characters before understanding why they're doing it. And we're thinking, Nothing could excuse this behavior. When the rape eventually occurs, which is incredibly repulsive, we struggle to cling to that earlier sentiment that nothing excuses horrific acts of violence. In essence, the director forces us to wrestle with the question, Are extreme acts of violence ever warranted? And he may very well have tricked us. Because in the opening, our answer would have been no, but after the rape, many if not most of us would have had a change of heart.
In that light, the upbeat scene at the end shows humans as we want to be seen, as good and happy, loving and lovable. But in the director's eye, it's a facade. Humans at their core are emotionally fragile and genetically predisposed to demonizing other humans at the drop of a hat and turning murderously hateful. This is the nature of humanity, and why we will always have wars until we wipe ourselves out. That, I believe, is the real message of the movie.
Taking that into consideration, the ending's happiness must be inverted and magnified, becoming a gloom a hundred times darker than the blackest night...
And yes, this was the most depressing movie I've ever seen.