Irréversible (2002)

Director:

Gaspar Noé

Writer:

Gaspar Noé (writer)

Release Date:

22 May 2002 (France)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Le temps détruit tout - Time destroys everything

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Revenge | Night | Rapist | Abuse | Torture Porn

Awards:

2 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Monica Bellucci	...	Alex
Vincent Cassel	...	Marcus
Albert Dupontel	...	Pierre
Jo Prestia	...	Le Tenia
Philippe Nahon	...	Philippe
Stéphane Drouot	...	Stéphane
Jean-Louis Costes	...	Fistman
Michel Gondoin	...	Mick
Mourad Khima	...	Mourad
Hellal	...	Layde
Nato	...	Commissaire
Fesche	...	Chauffeur Taxi
Jara-Millo	...	Concha
Le Quellec	...	Inspecteur
Giami	...	Isabelle
Adoum	...	Fatima
Foulaux	...	Janice
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Stéphane Derdérian	...	Client du Rectum (uncredited)
Christophe Lemaire	...	Le danseur avec la chemise hawaïenne (uncredited)
Eric Moreau	...	Extra (uncredited)
Gaspar Noé	...	Client du Rectum (uncredited)
Titof	...	Le mec sur le lit à la fête (uncredited)

Directed by
Gaspar Noé

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Gaspar Noé		writer

Produced by
Vincent Cassel	....	co-producer
Brahim Chioua	....	co-producer
Emmanuel Gateau	....	consulting producer
Richard Grandpierre	....	co-producer
Gaspar Noé	....	co-producer
Christophe Rossignon	....	producer

Original Music by
Thomas Bangalter

Cinematography by
Benoît Debie
Gaspar Noé

Film Editing by
Gaspar Noé

Casting by
Jacques Grant

Production Design by
Alain Juteau

Costume Design by
Laure Culkovic

Makeup Department
Pierre Chavialle	....	hair stylist
Jean-Christophe Spadaccini	....	special makeup effects artist
Ghislaine Tortereau	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Serge Catoire	....	production manager
Eric Chabot	....	unit manager
Virginia Lombardo	....	unit manager
Ève Machuel	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Stéphane Derdérian	....	first assistant director
Olivier Théry-Lapiney	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Pascal Gras	....	carpenter

Sound Department
Jean-Luc Audy	....	sound
Xavier Bonneyrat	....	assistant sound editor
Marc Boucrot	....	sound
Olivier Busson	....	boom operator
Valérie Deloof	....	sound
Cyril Holtz	....	sound re-recording mixer

Visual Effects by
Rodolphe Chabrier	....	visual effects supervisor
Xavier Fourmond	....	digital compositor
Stéphanie Machuret	....	senior digital compositor: Mac Guff Ligne
Christophe Richard	....	digital artist

Camera and Electrical Department
David Campbell	....	crane operator: Super Technocrane
Eric Catelan	....	Steadicam operator
Benoît Debie	....	lighting designer
Denis Gaubert	....	assistant camera: second unit
Jérôme Mauduit	....	assistant camera: second unit
Antoine Rabaté	....	assistant camera
Sébastien Saadoun	....	assistant camera
Mathieu Szpiro	....	gaffer

Other crew
Marielle Duigou	....	production assistant
Virginia Lombardo	....	assistant location manager

Production Companies

• 120 Films
• Eskwad
• Grandpierre
• Les Cinémas de la Zone
• Nord-Ouest Productions
• Rossignon
• Studio Canal

Distributors

• Mars Distribution (2002) (France) (theatrical)
• Accent Film Entertainment (2004) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Alamode Film (2003) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Alliance Atlantis Communications (2002) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Atlantis Entertainment (2003) (Czechoslovakia) (theatrical)
• BIM Distribuzione (2002) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Comstock (2003) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Distribution Company (2003) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Frenetic Films (2002) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Lions Gate Films (2003) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Metro Tartan Distribution Ltd. (2003) (UK) (theatrical)
• Muse Productions (2002) (USA) (theatrical)
• Paradiso Entertainment (2002) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Accent Film Entertainment (2004) (Australia) (DVD)
• Argentina Video Home (Argentina) (DVD)
• Argentina Video Home (Argentina) (VHS)
• Europa Filmes (2004) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Legend Films International (2003) (Germany) (all media) (rights)
• Lions Gate Films Home Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Palisades Tartan (2009) (UK) (all media)
• Paradiso Home Entertainment (2002) (Netherlands) (DVD) (VHS)
• Tartan Video (2003) (UK) (DVD)
• Universum Film (UFA) (2004) (Germany) (DVD)
• Universum Film (UFA) (2004) (Germany) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2003) (Switzerland) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Irreversible (USA)

Runtime:

97 min | Canada:99 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

France

Language:

French | Spanish | Italian | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Portugal:M/18 | Peru:18 | Argentina:18 | Brazil:18 | Iceland:16 | Canada:18+ (Québec) | Canada:R (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Australia:R | Austria:18 | Denmark:15 | Finland:K-18 | France:-16 | Germany:18 | Hong Kong:III (cut) | Ireland:18 | Italy:VM18 | Japan:R-18 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R18 (with restriction) | Norway:18 | Singapore:R(A) (original rating) | Singapore:R21 (re-rating) | South Korea:18 (cut) | Spain:18 | UK:18

Filming Locations:

Buttes Chaumont, Paris 19, Paris, France

Company:

120 Films

Trivia:

Newsweek stated that this was the most walked out of movie of the year.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: At the party Vincent Cassel gives his characters name as "Vincent" instead of "Marcus" He quickly covers his mistake.

Quotes:

Marcus: [dancing with Alex] Say my name... Marcus... Marcus...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Last Exit (2003)

Soundtrack:

Symphony No. 7 in A Major op. 92

Stunning cinematic achievement

Like Gasper Noe's wonderful I STAND ALONE, Gasper Noe's IRREVERSIBLE is also the work of a unique visionary.

The film is notorious for its extended rape sequence and fire extinguisher beating, but it is also a scathing study of the male animal and an exercise in style that is never gratuitous.

Fans of rape-themed movies will not go home unimpressed with the brutal staging of Monica Belluci's rape; nor will fans of extreme violence be disappointed with what transpires in The Rectum. But it is the film's incredible soundscape that initially arrests our attention with its industrial drone that becomes the aural equivalent of a pendulum swinging just inches above our faces.

The camerawork mirrors the emotional state of Vincent Cassel, the male lead, and, as the film unspools in reverse, so does the camera retreat from its wild, anarchic rhythm to a state of peace and fixed composition.

Noe is an uncompromising soul who fixates on a theme and gallops to the horizon with it.

IRREVERSIBLE joins films like IN A GLASS CAGE, ASSAULT JACK THE RIPPER, CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST and BEAUTIFUL GIRL HUNTER in their shared defiance of all that's bland and wrong with most of today's cinema.