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Average User Score: 8 (12 sources)

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Jellylegs101

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To suggest that this film is nihilistic is an act of gross ignorance! Some critics have suggested that it's sneeringly superior. Well it's not sneeringly superior, just superior. Isn't that sometimes part of what makes a great film , shock whilst...
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To suggest that this film is nihilistic is an act of gross ignorance! Some critics have suggested that it's sneeringly superior. Well it's not sneeringly superior, just superior. Isn't that sometimes part of what makes a great film , shock whilst contain moral subtext and substance. There is a great sense of reward to be had having watched this extreme work. I implore any adult to watch this film. Any adult with a concept of reality anyway.

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Posted jan 18, 2008 2:04 am pt

confession_of

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First of all I’d like to say that this movie really shocked me. I knew what to expect, still I was left gob-struck in the end of the film, just sitting there with my mouth open, well sort of atleast.

The actors did a great...
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First of all I’d like to say that this movie really shocked me. I knew what to expect, still I was left gob-struck in the end of the film, just sitting there with my mouth open, well sort of atleast.

The actors did a great job, especially Monica Bellucci for her role as Alex. But most of the really good scenes are the ones with long interesting dialogues, and since the most of the dialogue was unscripted it makes the whole thing a lot more interesting and alive.
One of my favourite scenes is one where the three main characters (named Marcus, Alex and Pierre) get on a subway and talk about sex. It really made me want to cut in and say what I felt about what they were saying.

I thought with the very long and complicated scenes (around 20 min without a single cut) would make it confusing and sometimes boring, but it’s one of the greatest things about the movie actually. I enjoyed how you get to follow the character around, like in one scene where Monica is walking on the street and the camera follows her, only filming at her back.

I remember reading a review for this movie (I think it was on IMDb) and it said “it sometimes makes you feel ashamed of being human�, I agreed with that one sentence completely
It contains probably the best (if these scenes can be called “good�, maybe “effectful� is a better word.) rape scene in a movie ever.
I read somewhere that during the first 30 minutes of the film they have some low frequency background noise which supposedly is similar to the noise produced by an earthquake which causes nausea and vertigo. I just had to put this here because I found it very interesting.

All in all this is one of the greater movies I have ever seen and truly one of my favourites!

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Posted jul 8, 2007 5:01 am pt

Rogue_Beeyatch

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This is a backwards movie. First thing we see are this men looking for revenge. And then slowly movie is going back to past events, and we learn that Marcus's girlfriend Alex was raped.

This movie is really hard, and there are moments...
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This is a backwards movie. First thing we see are this men looking for revenge. And then slowly movie is going back to past events, and we learn that Marcus's girlfriend Alex was raped.

This movie is really hard, and there are moments when you want to puke. I loved it, but I'm not sure that everyone else will.

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Posted mar 20, 2007 4:47 pm pt

• [+] Entertainment Weekly
  
  91
  After a while, a didactic overdeliberateness seeps into Noé's design, but there's no doubt that he's a new kind of dark film wizard: a poet of apocalyptic shock.

  by Owen Gleiberman | Read Full Review »
• [+] Miami Herald
  
  88
  The moral of Irreversible -- time destroys everything -- isn't nearly as profound as writer-director Gaspar Noé seems to think it is, which is why some critics have already dismissed the movie as the facile, misogynistic posturings of a provocateur.

  by Rene Rodriguez | Read Full Review »
• [+] ReelViews
  
  88
  Whatever else it may be, Irreversible is disturbingly unforgettable. It is impossible to have a blasé reaction to a film this visceral. Indifference is not an option.

  by James Berardinelli | Read Full Review »
• [+] Rolling Stone
  
  88
  It would be easy and convenient to dismiss Irreversible as blatant sensationalism. But Noe's bruising film is too artfully crafted to write off as exploitation.

  by Peter Travers | Read Full Review »
• [+] Variety
  
  80
  A demanding but rewarding emotional odyssey in a challenging visual package.

  by Lisa Nesselson | Read Full Review »
• [+] LA Weekly
  
  80
  Noé calls Irreversible his "Eyes Wide Shut," though it's really more like "A Clockwork Orange."

  by John Powers | Read Full Review »
• [+] Seattle Post-Intelligencer
  
  75
  "Time destroys all," claims the film, but the monstrous capabilities of human evil is the real culprit here, and Noe is determined to prove that the real evil that men do is not fodder for cinematic spectacle and cinematic entertainment.

  by Sean Axmaker | Read Full Review »
• [+] Christian Science Monitor
  
  75
  Noe's despairing view of human nature is as thoughtful as it is grim, limning the most appalling aspects of earthly experience in terms recalling Dante and Bosh, among other apocalyptic artists.

  by David Sterritt | Read Full Review »
• [+] The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  
  75
  An integrated work whose form clearly mirrors its content. Often, looking into that mirror is dreadful; but, often enough, it's also dreadfully revealing.

  by Rick Groen | Read Full Review »
• [+] Chicago Sun-Times
  
  75
  The fact is, the reverse chronology makes Irreversible a film that structurally argues against rape and violence, while ordinary chronology would lead us down a seductive narrative path toward a shocking, exploitative payoff.

  by Roger Ebert | Read Full Review »
• [+] Portland Oregonian
  
  75
  Made with disarming craft and cunning. Intermixed in the memories it leaves of horror and disgust are glimpses of impressive technique and savvy psychological insight.

  by Shawn Levy | Read Full Review »
• [+] Film Threat
  
  70
  Let me set the record straight: Gaspar Noé is the real deal. Is he excessive? Yes. Manipulative? Sure. Pretentious? Absolutely. But, he’s also one of the most exciting filmmakers on the planet.

  by Dan Wible | Read Full Review »
• [+] New York Magazine
  
  70
  Noé shoots his sequences in long, unbroken takes, and the unblinking horror that results is, I think, the opposite of exploitation. There has been so much lurid bloodletting in the movies that you might think nothing could faze us anymore. Think again.

  by Peter Rainer | Read Full Review »
• [+] The Onion (A.V. Club)
  
  70
  There are strong ideas at play in Noé's undeniably audacious and technically stunning second feature, which goes as far as any film can in revealing the breakdown of order and the deterioration of the rational mind.

  by Scott Tobias | Read Full Review »
• [+] Salon.com
  
  70
  Noé isn't a kid (he'll turn 40 this year) but he's still young as a filmmaker; he may yet learn to control his desire to sear the audience's eyes out with a red-hot poker before he's even started telling a story.

  by Andrew O'Hehir | Read Full Review »