Irreversible

Incredibly hard to watch. I’m not sure how I feel about how Alex’s character is framed in the later scenes and her interactions with the other characters, we see nothing but their lust for her (maybe that’s the point but I really don’t think it is) and the majority of dialogue is directed by their attraction to her or is talk about sex bar when she says she thinks she may be pregnant (even the other woman Alex converses with is pregnant). Women can be portrayed as sexual beings but when the whole film is centred around the impact of a rape scene and the impact of male violence and anger (in multiple ways), I’m just not sure how I feel about that framing. The women portrayed are only ever seen as victims of violence, sexual objects or child bearers or in Alex’s case all three (this essentially positions Alex as just her female body throughout the film 🤮).  And I don’t think it really does say anything interesting about revenge (or time and violence/destruction), despite supposedly being heralded as subverting the revenge genre. Revenge amounts to nothing, the act has already happened and there is no immediate solace from it - isn’t that true in many cases. If the only message is that life is bleak and can be destroyed by a random act of violence and men should not to be so reactionary to violence and fight it with violence, that’s not a powerful enough idea for this film to receive so much praise. It creates an intense emotional response and is incredibly shot and its non linear storytelling is interesting but that’s about it. If anyone who follows me sees it differently, please comment to let me know, would like to discuss!