Irreversible: Straight Cut Review: New Version Of Notorious French Drama Remains A Difficult Watch
Gaspar Noé's 2002 French-language drama Irréversible is one of those films that regularly appears on many critics' "Best Movies You'll Never See Again" lists. No matter where you stand, this is no easy task - even Noah's biggest supporters will admit he likes to provoke with deliberate ugliness. ( Irreplaceable includes not only the 9-minute rape scene, but also characters with racist, homophobic, transphobic, and pedophilic leanings.) Like Memento , the original film plays its scenes, most of which appear individually, in reverse order. The plot begins with a violent vortex in an underground sex club. As the story progresses backwards, we learn that the violence was a gift from the rapes and brutal assaults that preceded it. Moreover, let's live the life of a couple in love before all the violence. In the recently re-released and revamped Irreversible: Straight Cut, the story is now told in chronological order, specifically showing that all the men are terrible. At least in this story.
It seems impossible for the audience to come to an irreversible conclusion without understanding the brutal rape involved. No matter where you look, the shadow of Karma looms over everything, creating an earth-shattering inevitability on the path to revelation. In reverse order, we first see the violence that leads to rape, then we wonder how these aggressive men got there, we learn about their motives, then we feel sad because we see how bad it was before all of this happened. But when the timeline becomes linear, everything becomes relative.
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First, there are cute scenes with Alex (Monica Bellucci) and Marcus (Vincent Castle) after the rape. In the loop, the story begins with them, so another scene is played, starting with Marcus ignoring Alex's many requests that he finds annoying, like stealing money from him, money to buy alcohol for parties. He doesn't think he thinks he does - he seems quite adept at dealing with insecure male egos - but it's the start of a slippery slope for this new version of the story.
Alex and Marcus find themselves in an awkward friendship triangle with Pierre (Albert Dupontel) dating Alex when Marcus, despite his feelings for Alex, wants to do cocaine and kiss another girl in the bathroom. As the two try to stop each other, Alex leaves them both to go home early from a party, leading to the film's most famous scene.
At the beginning of this cut, Marcus makes a comment about stealing Pierre's daughter. Alex corrects her language: she has nothing to steal; He made his decision, thank you. But once he's attacked, he becomes a bargain for everyone - the police, the local gang who want to name the rapist for money, and even Marcus and Pierre, who prefer to be violent with the attacker than stand by. Alex's bed in the hospital. When the bed is cut from the opposite side, it can only be seen that the man beaten to death for revenge was not the rapist known as Shirit, but his friend. Tapeworm (Joe Prestia) escapes without Scotch, which is immediately apparent, underscoring the futility of Marcus and Pierre's violence and hatred.
Pierre offers Marcus one last lifeline before heading to a dark and haunted sex club called The Rectum - he suggests they visit Alex in hospital and Marcus responds by crashing his car into a broken metal pole. From that moment, Pierre lost control. Angered by her unfulfilled sex life with Alex—much of it her fault—she unleashes every ounce of pent-up frustration on the man she considers a tapeworm, a rampage fueled by the sparks of rage and revenge.
Noah wasn't wrong when he claimed that Irreversible: Straight Cut was a different, even revelatory, film from the original, but it still managed to unsettle the audience despite knowing what was going to happen. For a famous film that was never seen again, the director has created compelling reasons to watch it again. Rape and beatings remain horrific in an age of bigotry and humiliation. It can be provocative if you think the hate comes from him, not his character, Noah doesn't care, but he hints more clearly here that the heroes you think are beautiful - at least in their motives - in they really aren't. This is not it. Not everyone is ready for such a nihilistic worldview. But you could say it says a lot about today's toxic masculinity.
( Irreversible: The Straight Cut hits theaters February 10)
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