Irreversible
You rated this movie: 5 of 5 stars
The 1st 10-15 minutes are dizzying from camera tricks, after that it settles down. I'm sure the bad reviewers never watched past that point or their reviews would be more accurate. Nothing slow about this movie except perhaps the last 4 minutes, and everything is necessary to the film, to your understanding of all that was lost by the victim(s). Glad I read the reviews (& ignored the bad ones) to know the film starts backwards, that kept me from being lost--it was easy to keep up knowing that from the start. The rape(s) of the woman starts about 43 minutes in & goes until about 56 minutes & is the most difficult thing I've ever had to watch & not be able to look away. The earlier rape was about 15 minutes in & once you get to know these characters, by watching to the end, you'll feel the tragedy even more. I would buy this, highly recommend seeing this, though it's value is not empty entertainment. This will haunt you, as it should.
While this was in French with English subtitles, it was not at all difficult to understand & keep track of the dialogue, and I've never seen a better acting job between the two main stars in the end 20 minutes of the film showing them in their every day love & life. They were so believable as a couple in love, in lust, so easy with each other in total nudity, it felt so real. Nothing like this has ever been shown in the US, nor ever will. There were more penis shots than breasts, both erect and flaccid, in action and at rest, than in ALL the movies combined in US films, however this is FAR FROM a sex movie, and is quite innocent if not for the sexual violence. No child could view this and few adults will be able to handle seeing this film, it is extremely graphic, tragic, haunting and horrid, yet the quality (even streaming online) is excellent in every category. I wish films like this didn't come along so rarely...
More on this movie at netflix:
http://movies.netflix.com/Movie/Irreversible/60026141?trkid=1851333
