Irreversible (Irréversible)

disturbing. dark. harrowing.

gasper noe's film irreversible is a roller coaster ride through one fucked up night in france. the film is shown in reverse chronological order, like memento, and it works extremely well for this story. the film starts with a dead body and leads us through the actions that led up to a murder... 2 friends, marcus and pierre, are searching for a pimp who raped and beat their girlfriend/friend alex. they search a gay club where tons of sex acts are being performed, and i imagine the director has some unique thoughts on sex and homosexuality... anyways, one of the most fucked up/disturbing scenes in all of movie history is a 5 minute long anal rape scene involving said girlfriend, alex (played by the gorgeous monica bellucci). the scene (and overall film) was easy to watch for me, but i'd be curious to see others' reactions though. i've seen my fair share of fucked up shit on the internets by now. the rape scene however was more disturbing because it was almost like a love making scene... the man was making love in a way, while alex was in agony and pain the whole time. i imagine this is what real rape is like. anyways, the film is well acted and has some good long scenes that must have been difficult to film. the ending (or beginning of the story) is up for interpretation, but i didn't think it was as good as a story like this deserved.