Irreversible(2003)

Lionsgate

1h 37m

Release Date: Mar 7, 2003 | Limited

Events over the course of one traumatic night in Paris unfold in reverse-chronological order.

Official Website

Releases

Original Release | Mar 7, 2003

2023 Re-release (Altered Innocence) | Feb 10, 2023

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Box Office Results

All Releases (2)
Total US & Canada:
$803,491
Total International
$5,687,242
Total Worldwide:
$6,490,733

Total US & Canada:
$792,200
Total International
$5,687,242
Total Worldwide:
$6,479,442

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Director & Top Cast

Gaspar Noé
Director

Monica Bellucci
Alex

Vincent Cassel
Marcus

Albert Dupontel
Pierre

Philippe Nahon
L'homme

Jo Prestia
Le Tenia

Stéphane Drouot

Stéphane

Jean-Louis Costes

Fistman

Mick Gondouin

Mick

Mourad Khima

Mourad

Layde Hellal

Layde

Dominique Nato

Commissaire

Michel Fesche

Chauffeur Taxi

Victoria Jaramillo

Concha

Jean-Yves Le Quellec

Inspecteur

Isabelle Giami

Copine d'Alex enceinte

Fatima Adoum

Fatima

Janice Foulaux

Janice

Technical Specifications

Sound Mix: DTS,Dolby Digital

Other Details

Country of Origin: France

Language: French,Spanish,Italian,English

Summaries

Plot Summary

The film opens with an old man and another man sitting on a bed in an apartment building. The old man talks about why he was in prison (he slept with his daughter).The camera then pans out the window to a gay club called "The Rectum". The police have arrived and they are wheeling out a person that has obviously been assaulted. People seem to be yelling and swearing to the person on the stretcher.Then, there is a flashback to two men frantically searching in "The Rectum" for a man whose name is "La Tenia". It is unclear at this point who La Tenia is. One of the men is the person who was being carried out of the club before. He asks around to the guys in the gay club, but nobody will answer. Instead, the people ask him to perform sexual acts on them. Eventually, the man searching for La Tenia finds a man whom he thinks is La Tenia and the other man smashes his face in with a fire extinguisher, killing him.The film flashes back again to a street. Prostitutes are standing on corners. The two men who were in the club, whose names are revealed to be Pierre and Marcus, are asking to find a man named Guillermo Nunez. They are referred to a prostitute named Concha, who is actually a male transvestite, who knows where La Tenia is. He refuses to tell and they beat him. Concha reveals that he is in The Rectum.The film flashes back to Pierre and Marcus leaving a party. The walk outside and the police are wheeling a body out of a tunnel. Marcus identifies the woman as his girlfriend, Alex. She has been brutally beaten and is unconscious. A man approaches Marcus and asks him if he wants revenge. Marcus replies yes.The film flashes back again to the party. Alex, Marcus, and Pierre socialize with friends. Marcus is drunk and under the influence of drugs. After Marcus acts inappropriately, Alex leaves. She tries to get a taxi, but is unable to. A prostitute recommends to take the underground walkways because they are safer. After she enters it, she sees La Tenia threatening prostitute Concha with a knife. As he sees Alex, he lets her go and grabs Alex, afterwards raping and beating her brutally (in a long nine minute, difficult-to-watch scene). During the act a person appears in the background and disappears. It's the same man who will tell Marcus where to find La Tenia.Further back in time, Alex, Pierre, and Marcus walk in the subway to get to the party. It is revealed that Pierre was originally Alex's boyfriend, but Marcus is her new boyfriend. Pierre does not seem to have any problem with that.Flashing back to a couple hours before, Marcus and Alex are lying in their bed just after they woke up. Pierre calls and lets them know that his car has broke down and they have to take the subway instead. After Marcus leaves to buy some liquor, Alex finds out that she is pregnant with Marcus' child.In the final scene, (in another flashback to a day earlier) Alex sits in a park reading a book while children play. She is completely unaware of her uneventful fate. The scene fades into flashing strobe lights and shows a final slide saying LE TEMPS DETRUIT TOUT (time destroys all things)... and the movie ends, revealing that this entire film took place in reverse time.

Storyline

A young woman, Alex, is raped by a stranger in a tunnel. Her boyfriend Marcus and ex-boyfriend Pierre decide to do justice themselves. In 2002, Gaspar Noé created controversy (and controversy) by presenting his film at the Cannes Film Festival. 17 years later, he returns with a brand new version of his cult film. Initially operated in an anechronological form (the film starts at the end and ends at its beginning), with Irreversible "Full Inversion" (2019), the filmmaker offers us a completely different reading, offering it to us in a chronological order. Paris, France. When statuesque Alex encounters a violent pimp while walking home alone through an ill-lit pedestrian underpass, the brutal procurer channels his murderous aggression into her. And as her devastated boyfriend Marcus and Alex's ex-lover Pierre embark on a frenzied mission to track down the unknown assailant, a life-altering descent into hell begins. However, they are fighting a losing battle: try as you might, you can neither predict the future nor undo the past. — Nick Riganas Events over the course of one traumatic night in Paris unfold in reverse-chronological order as the beautiful Alex is brutally raped and beaten by a stranger in the underpass. Her boyfriend and ex-lover take matters into their own hands by hiring two criminals to help them find the rapist so that they can exact revenge. A simultaneously beautiful and terrible examination of the destructive nature of cause and effect, and how time destroys everything. — Denny Gibbons