Irreversible has got to be the most difficult movie to take in. I wonder how many people left in the first 10 minutes?

Don't read this if you plan on seeing it, I'm going to spoil the shit out of it for you.

The camera work is dizzying, and not in a good way. It spends the first half of the movie wheeling around so you can't quite focus on anything, and slowly becomes more stationary as the film progresses. The movie starts out basically with the brutal beating of a man's head to a mushy pulp with a fire extinguisher. Very graphic, very realistic looking, terrifying, disgusting, I could barely watch it was so brutal. The first half is so fucking violent I felt sick. And I've seen Reservoir Dogs.

The stunning Monica Bellucci gets raped in a tunnel after leaving the party. Brutally raped in the ass and the scene is a continuous shot that seems to go on forever with this guy ramming her and moaning and her screaming into his hand, which covers her mouth. After what feels like an hour, he then beats the shit out of her, pounding his fist into her face, kicking her in the face, slamming her face into the cement floor and leaving her bloody and in a coma.

I give her MEGA props for doing that scene, it must have been BRUTAL shooting it. Not only was it a fucking rape, but it was literally a 10 minute scene with no cuts. So that day of shooting must have been grueling. I thought Requiem for a Dream was a harsh film. It's Disney compared to this in my opinion.

The only respite of this film is that it's in reverse. The final scene first, and it works it's way back to the beginning, so the film gets progressively happier as it winds it's way back in time, step by step. So where the film begins with red lighting and grating horrid music and insane camera work, it ends with Beethoven, a sunny day at the park, children running and laughing through a sprinker. The final caption says "Time Destroys All Things". I guess the film illustrates this by implying that it was a beautiful life, this woman was pregnant, she had a great boyfriend, great friends, a good life, and all it took was one day, a little time, and her life, her boyfriend's life, her ex-boyfriend's life, and her unborn child's not quite yet life are utterly destroyed.

Yay.

Don't see this movie if you value your sanity.