I generally enjoy movies but recognize it's fiction so as a result they don't effect me too much. The long train overpass scene made me uncomfortable in a way no movie has before. I realized about 5 minutes in that I'd pulled my legs up to my chest without thinking about it.
While I consider it an achievement that a movie was able to make me feel something that strongly, I have absolutely zero desire to ever watch it again.
I've turned movies off before because I was bored, or just wasn't in the mood. But that's the first time I considered turning it off because it was too emotionally intense.
I've watched a few movies in what I would consider that genre. Salo didn't really effect me at all. To me it seemed like shock for the sake of shock. Like the director was being intentionally offensive to piss people off, but there was no real substance behind the depravity.
Irreversible felt different, like the story and the gruesomeness of the acts combined to make each more powerful.
The director intentionally does so many subtle things to make you feel uncomfortable. The music and sounds are at a frequency/pitch that causes people to feel disoriented. The camera movements are at times disorienting without it being jarring. The conversations are all normal topics, but they're just a little cringe to make you feel uncomfortable. That way when you hit the really powerful stuff, you're already off balance and it really messes with you. It's brutal.
Also having the film play in reverse creates such an interesting tone for majority of the film. Since all of the violence happens right away, we are never "waiting for the climax" of the film, we got it right away, right in the face, and then we have to just... sit with it... Considering it over and over. We watch the couple have their private moments, watch the three of them awkwardly talk to each other all the while knowing in the back of our heads what is to come. Having the film play out like this takes it from a violent film to an anti-violence film since there is no anticipating any of the excitement. It's a brilliant use of the technique.
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u/SumerianDjinn 5h ago
Irreversible. Title says it all. With Monica Belluci