Irreversible

Irreversible is a demanding and audacious but thoroughly rewarding cinematic experience that has been thrilling audiences since its world premiere in Cannes and its North American debut screenings at the Telluride and Toronto film festivals. Even for a director that has been known to invite controversy in films such as Sodomites (1998), Seul contre tous (I Stand Alone) (1998), and Carne (1991), Noé’s Irreversible can still be considered the ultimate in bravura filmmaking. An emotional odyssey that unspools in reverse from gut-wrenching violence to sweetly observed moments of sublime tenderness, the film stars Monica Bellucci and real-life husband Vincent Cassel as a couple whose story is told over the course of a fateful evening in a series of long takes. The film features two unsettling and graphic scenes of violence and sexuality that are difficult to watch. However, these grim sights are nestled within a carefully constructed – although unconventional – narrative which serves as a counterpoint to moments of striking tenderness, and the film is in some ways a study of darkness and light.

(Source: Lions Gate Films)