Irreversible

Irreversible (2002)
[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0290673/]

The Gist:
Gaspar Noe's film aims for stark sensationalism, even purporting that the film carries a frequency that is undetectable but unconsciously makes the viewer nauseous (which sounds like hokum honestly. Granted I didn't hear that from a quote of the director himself but instead several people who have watched the film and stated it as fact). I must say that on a whole, this film accomplishes what it sets out to do admirably. It starts with twirling, swaying camera movements that belie the turmoil of the situation and as the movie progresses the camera slowly calms as it passes through the night in question: where the film brutally depicts the rape and beating of a woman and the revenge sought out by the woman's current and ex boyfriends. Where the film gets me is after all of this, when it calms at the very beginning and shows a delicate and intimate scene between the woman and her boyfriend. Without this scene as the anchor, the violence would become overwrought. Instead, with context and contrast, the film reaches a staggering depth.