I had heard some of the discussion following this movies premiere at the Toronto Film Fest in 2002. A large part of the discussion dealt with a scene where a woman is brutally raped which went on longer than some people felt neccessary. I did not see the movie until 2006 by which time I had forgotten all about the stir it had caused. The story is told in reverse chronological order leaving us wondering the how's and why's of each scene. It is a film that grips you even though it is tremendously disturbing. From the brutal killing inside a gay bar at the beginning of the film, to the long brutal rape scene in a subway to a woman lying on the grass on a beautiful day I was both mesmerized and disgusted. What made this film so brutal was that it was plausible. This sort of thing could have happened. At first you are disgusted by the murder of the man until you see that he was the rapist. It brings out the vigilante in us. The rape scene which was so heatedly debated is prolonged, but it makes it more real to the audience flooding us with emotions. Terror, anger, outrage, sadness, agony. Make no mistake, this film was created to shock. To create debate. To force us to empathize. It is on tonight at 11:30 pm and while part of me wants to watch it again, I do not believe I have it in me to make it through it a second time. I believe it is an important film, well crafted in all facets, but it is a look into that darkest side of the human expereince.
9 comments:
And it's available on Netflix! Sah-weet.
Thanks for the headsup. I had forgot about Netflix. It makes sense for us out here so I am going to check it out.
Braid's thanks for the synopsis.
This is a film that I will never watch.
This was a film that was the subject of a huge discussion between a room mate and myself. He is now a journalist and at the time was doing reviews for both film and music.
He had alot of the same to say about this film and though I find the subject matter incredibly fascinating, especially the aspects of vigilantism - the extended rape scene was the deal breaker for me. I have no opposition to it being there, but I know I can't watch it. Isn't that interesting? The discussion was about subjecting ourselves to violence in media and personal responsiblility.
That lead to a heady discussion about censorship on which I have very strong feelings. If you censor one, you must censor all. That is a very simplistic representation of the discussion...but I think you may hear where I am coming from.
This then led to a discussion of of many of the crime type shows on T.V. and how disproportionately they show violent crimes being committed against women - mostly rapes, and is this reality being reflected and why how what etc. And can we communicate these ideas in a more subtle less gratuitous way?
Anyway, I'm digressing into a vast vast subject here.
Thanks for writing about this film.
I agree with most of what you are saying, but one point I would like to make is tv in contrast to this film. In a society that all too often glorifies violence tv has become an outlet for gratuitous violence and sex as have many of the films coming out of Hollywood. Where these often celebrate violence this film does the opposite. The rape scene in Irreversible was thought to be gratuitous by some, but I don't think it was. It is a horrible scene to watch, but it makes a strong statement about rape and in doing so ignites debate. Society needs to stop celebrating violence and start seeing what it really is and means and films like this, although hard to take, further that end. I can see how woman would have an even more severe reaction to this film and I might even go as far to say that this film might have been constructed more for a male audience. That of course is debatable.
yeah good point, that came up too. The differences between how those ideas are portrayed in t.v. as opposed to film.
The methods used are important.
Troubles Braids, I watched this film too back in '03 I think. Funny because before reading your post I had recently just had a sort of nasty flashback of the film. Around the same time I watched a couple of other French films with intense sexual and/or violent content, Baise-Moi and Romance I think was the latter's title. A girlfriend and I watched them all as we were in the midst of a breakup... what a great idea.
I was disturbed that these films caught my interest, though I don't like to think of myself as closed minded. What I still question is what drives people to make them... especially in France.
There are reams - oops - tons of studies now on the effects of media violence on young viewers vis a vis aggressive, anti-social behaviour, but I wonder what has been done to study the effects on adults.
Certainly movies, TV and VGs are very different media. I wouldn't imagine that any medium is "safer" than another. Whether intense, graphic content is gratuitous or meant as commentary, I think we really have to watch exposure levels to these controlled substances for the imagination. We're definitely still way in media denial.
Censorship is no solution. More education, more open discussion for sure. And less corporate culture, one can dream.
I don't disagree with anything you wrote. I think the main point I was trying to make about this film is that, although terribly graphic, it does not glorify. I think it is so graphic only to create debate and the subject of rape has for too long been one society likes to push under the carpet and pretend it isn't there.
So true. We all know women - any at all is tragic but far too many in my case - who have been subjected to violence against them by men, usually those they previously trusted, and for whom there is no justice, no support and no safety net for them to rely on. And as men we are still far too willing to accept this situation, perpetuate it.
Agreed.
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