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Preview by Jack Foley |
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FRENCH cinema continues to tip-toe the fine line between good and bad taste
with another flick featuring rape, violence and revenge.
Irréversible, directed by Gaspar Noé, caused a stir when it
was shown at Cannes, forcing many viewers to walk out in disgust, or because
they merely could not stomach its subject matter. It will be shown as part
of the forthcoming Edinburgh Festival, before being released in the UK sometime
next year.
One of its biggest talking points is a 10-minute, no-holds barred rape sequence
involving Monica Bellucci (of Malena and Brotherhood
of the Wolf fame), which provides the catalyst for the remainder of proceedings,
as her friend and ex-husband (Vincent Cassel) decide to take justice into
their own hands.
The sequence (and the movie) has been compared with the likes of Sam Peckinpah
(who flirted with the censors for exploring similar subject matter in Straw
Dogs), and Stanley Kubrick (A Clockwork Orange); yet whether it will be regarded
as highly in years to come remains to be seen (Straw Dogs, incidentally, is
to get a DVD release later this year; thus fuelling the censorship debate
even further).
Irréversible, however, could just as easily be regarded in the same
way as Baise-Moi, another French flick that has
had Daily Mail readers squirming these past 12 months - it was financed by
the same company, Studio Canal offshoot, The Wild Bunch.
The rape itself takes place three quarters of an hour into the movie and was
shot six times over the course of two days. Its director Noé, who has
previously helmed Sodomites (1998) and Seul contre tous (1998) (I Stand Alone),
remains unrepentent for its content.
In a recent Guardian interview, he reveals that 'because the subject of the
movie was a rape, I said it has to be as powerful as it can be, to be disgusting
enough, to be useful'. He feels that 'if you do a movie with a rape and don't
show it, you hide the point... the thing is that if you show it in a disgusting
way, you help people to avoid that kind of situation. Like in Clockwork Orange,
when they show images of terror to Malcolm McDowell to stop him doing those
kind of things, it is useful that it is shown'.
However, whilst he recognises the Kubrick similarities and tips his hat to
the revenge movies of Peckinpah, he maintains that he has achieved something
with Irréversible that the Wild Bunch director failed to do... make
a 'life-affirming' picture. He says: "You have at the end of the movie
a scene that represents something that happened before the drama - a great
moment that can never be reproduced again. In that sense, it's life-affirming,"
he argues.
Whether this is the pretentious assumption of yet another 'arty' French director,
or the truth, audiences will be able to judge for themselves next year - or
by nabbing a plane ticket to Edinburgh. Indielondon will deliver its verdict
in due course...
REACTION THUS FAR:
Critics who saw it at Cannes were divided on the quality of the film. JoBlo's
Movie Emporium concluded: "In the end, I thought the story, some of the
creative style utilized, the actors, the method by which it was told and the
overall message was enough to consider it a success on some very fucked up
level.... One thing is for sure, you will likely never forget this movie.
Just remember that everything you do in life, every word, every action, every
day...affects the next, and ultimately: nothing is irreversible."
Hollywood Reporter wrote: "While Noe's premise that 'time destroys everything'
seems to be a weak rationalization for the picture's audacious raison d'etre,
its ability to incite strong personal reactions is undeniable'.
While Boxoffice magazine did not hold back, stating that 'Irréversible
director Gaspar Noe's much anticipated follow-up to his 1998 Cannes award
winner, 'I Stand Alone', is a repulsive, masturbatory exercise, whose only
achievement is its heroic ratio of style over story... It [the movie] is a
painfully thin, uninvolving story'.
PAST FOREIGN LANGUAGE/INDIE PREVIEWS: 28 Days Later. Click here...
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Trouble Every Day, French vampire/cannibal flick. Click here...
