Irreversible

Told in reverse chronological order with a weaving, unsteady, and nauseating camera that gradually stabilizes as we arrive at happier times, we are shown a blissful relationship gone sour due to drug and alcohol use, then a brutal, unflinching subway tunnel rape, and the boyfriend's search through the underbelly of Paris to mete out justice to the perpetrator. Gasper Noe's Irreversible is more of an endurance test than a movie, both cruel and unrelenting, but effectively and consummately uses its narrative device (which had to have been ripped off from Memento) to lead us to a surprising meaningful resolution. Vincent Cassel and Monica Bellucci, married at the time, are outstanding. *** out of ****