Irreversible

Monica Bellucci Director: Gaspar Noé Gaspar Noé

Overview

This powerful and controversial drama from France has been given a respectful treatment for its North American DVD release. Irreversible has been transferred to disc in its original widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1 (letterboxed on convention television sets and enhanced for 16 x 9 playback on widescreen monitors), and the French-language audio has been mastered in Dolby Digital 5.1. The disc also features optional subtitles in English and Spanish. Bonus material includes an alternate audio commentary track featuring director Gaspar Noé and several members of the cast; a collection of deleted scenes; a short documentary on the film's special effects; and the original theatrical trailer.

Product Details

Release Date:	08/05/2003
UPC:	0658149815926
Original Release:	2002
Rating:	NR
Source:	Lions Gate
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Time:	1:37:00
Sales rank:	18,063

Special Features

Closed Caption; Trailer; Deleted scenes; French teasers; The making of the special effects

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Monica Bellucci	Alex
Vincent Cassel	Marcus
Albert Dupontel	Pierre
Philippe Nahon	Philippe
Jo Prestia	Le Tenia
Jean-Louis Costes	Actor
Stephane Drouot	Stephane
Mourad Khima	Mourad
Gaspar Noé	Actor

Technical Credits

Gaspar Noé

Gaspar Noé	Director,Cinematographer,Editor,Screenwriter
Jean-Luc Audy	Sound/Sound Designer
Thomas Bangalter	Score Composer
Marc Boucrot	Sound/Sound Designer
Rodolphe Chabrier	Special Effects
Valerie Deloof	Sound/Sound Designer
Richard Grandpierre	Producer
Cyril Holtz	Sound/Sound Designer
Alain Juteau	Art Director
Christophe Rossignon	Producer

Scene Index

Side #1 --
1. --:-- [3:04]
2. 03:59 [9:12]
3. 03:11 [12:15]
4. 03:07 [:30]
5. 03:03 [2:04]
6. 02:58 [2:41]
7. 02:57 [4:31]
8. 02:14 [4:59]
9. 01:43 [1:38]
10. 01:09 [13:04]
11. 00:57 [12:20]
12. 22:35 [9:03]
13. 21:22 [14:04]
14. 20:01 [:41]
15. 19:27 [2:16]
16. 88:88 [1:07]

Menu

Side #1 --
   Scene Index
   Play
   Languages
      French Dolby Digital 5.1
      French Dolby Digital 2.0
      English Subtitles
      Spanish Subtitles
      No Subtitles
   Extras
      Soundtrack
      Stress
      Outrage
      Teasers
   Lions Gate Entertainment (LGE)

Editorial Reviews

Formally audacious, stylistically sound, and stomach-sickeningly grisly, Gaspar Noé's stateside breakthrough is unarguably the work of a filmmaker with technique to spare. Whether or not this year's Gallic enfant terrible has anything to contribute to cinema other than skillful button-pushing, however, remains to be seen. Irreversible's facile tale of a once-idyllic couple caught in a torpor of rape, drugs, and retribution is loaded with easy ironies and horror-flick set pieces. Noé's technical gymnastics keep it undeniably compelling: Shot in fluid, color-saturated, whirling-dervish long takes, edited in reverse, and given a throbbing, hypnotic sound design from Daft Punk's Thomas Bangalter, Irreversible's deft moves don't allow the viewer a second to ponder some of the script's more implausible, trumped-up conceits. An early-film cab-ride in which our anti-heroes assault a foreigner, for instance, serves as little more than an intentionally disorienting emotional red herring. Likewise, copious screen time is allotted to setting up the three lead characters' dynamic, which is of little use to Noé other than to upset audience expectations. And it's more than a little disingenuous that Monica Bellucci's much-discussed rape scene happens to be the only sequence shot with a steady camera. Noé purportedly relished the severe reactions provoked by screenings of Irreversible -- walk-outs, cat calls, and the like -- which would only make sense for a person whose ultimate goal is to create the cinematic equivalent of car-wreck gawking.

All Movie Guide - Michael Hastings