Trigger Warning: Mentions of s*xual assault and r*pe.
Monica Bellucci’s Irréversible has collectively been regarded as one of the most traumatizing and explicit films of all time. Being advertised as trauma translated into cinema, Gaspar Noé had a very clear vision when he was making the film. The raw reality that it hits its audience with can often be too much. However, the film is more than just its profanity, providing a window into the lives of some deeply complex characters.
While the story is masterful in every way, there is no denying that when the 2002 film gets dark, it commits to it a little too much. There is one specific scene that has been regarded as seriously horrid, and for good reason.
Monica Bellucci’s Irréversible Had A Very Brutal Scene
Irréversible’s plot, on its own, is quite grim, following the story of Monica Bellucci’s Alex, who is r*ped by a stranger one night and now must rely on her boyfriend and ex-lover to find the culprit. Shot in beautiful technicolor, the film delivers a story full of crime, pain, and grief. As the name of the project suggests, loss and damage to one’s mind are the central themes of the movie, and it all comes down to one scene.
The sequence where Alex is assaulted is very difficult to watch. The film gained a reputation for how horrific this scene is, with audiences from all over the world walking out of the theater when it happened. The biggest reason for this is because of how realistic it was. Many survivors who have had similar experiences were triggered by it, and this is not surprising.
Every single aspect of the scene was too real, and the audience could not handle it; not to mention the fallout of the assault on Alex’s character being accurately represented.
Critics Had Similar Reactions
Soon after the release of Irréversible and word started to spread about its gruesome themes, a well-known film critic, Robert Ebert wrote a review of the film in the most truthful way possible. He started by giving the film a three-star rating and then mentioned the reason for it. He stated that the film is truly ‘violent and cruel’ to its viewers, calling it unwatchable for most of its audience members.
“Irreversible” is a movie so violent and cruel that most people will find it unwatchable.
He was brutally honest in his rating, detailing the most traumatizing parts of the movie and mentioning that it was truly difficult to sit through it all. The film had a clear goal when Gaspar Noé was making it, according to Ebert. However, this made the film all the more abhorrent.
Rare Picture of Leonardo DiCaprio and Monica Bellucci Before His Titanic Fame Will Make You Feel Old
The camera looks on unflinchingly as a woman is r*ped and beaten for several long, unrelenting minutes, and as a man has his face pounded in with a fire extinguisher, in an attack that continues until after he is apparently dead. That the movie has a serious purpose is to its credit but makes it no more bearable.
He even revealed that during his screening of the film, many critics walked out because of how dark it was. While Ebert decided to stay, he did mention that he had to physically close his eyes during some scenes.
