Monica Bellucci, French film star, recently discovered a
universal truth: while shocking audiences can be great,
embarrassing your mom is not.
“My mother called me, and said, “˜Monica, what did
you do?'” Bellucci said. “People said to her,
“˜Monica’s never going to work again! Her career’s
finished!'”
But Bellucci’s work is far from finished. Her latest film,
“Irreversible,” continues its controversial path
through global cinema opening in Los Angeles on Friday. The
American limited release of “Irreversible” is a
testament to the film’s director Gaspar Noe’s unusual
ability to repel and allure audiences simultaneously.
“People are curious,” said actor Vincent Cassel.
“It’s like an accident on the street; you don’t
want to watch it, but you do.”
Cassel (“Birthday Girl”) co-stars with wife Bellucci
(“The Matrix Reloaded”) for the eighth time in this
tale of love, sex and violent revenge.
Noe’s deliberate camera movements amplify the
characters’ disturbing behavior ““ swirling upward
between the intense scenes, giving the film a disorienting,
dreamlike quality.
“I wanted the movie to be like a mushroom trip,” Noe
said. “Everything’s fuzzy at the beginning. It’s
like a nightmare. You have glimpses of things you think
you’ve seen, but you cannot remember them.”
To add to the confusion, “Irreversible” unfolds in
reverse, from the end to the beginning.
“It gives a sense of tragedy to the whole project that it
wouldn’t have if you put it normally,” said Noe.
However, the film isn’t simply “Memento”
redux. Shot over eight weeks, “Irreversible” evolved
from virtually no script to quick improvisations on set as well as
in rehearsals.
“The whole treatment was three pages long,” said
Noe. “Each scene would be portrayed in 10 or 20 lines, but I
didn’t know if the scenes would last for 3 or 20 minutes.
Organic timing for each scene came out in the rehearsal.”
“It was like working in theater,” Bellucci said.
“Usually it’s just one minute, and cut. Never in cinema
do you have this opportunity to build up the character. It was a
completely new way to work.”
One scene that ended up being remarkably long is the brutal,
uncut, 20-minute rape of Alex (Bellucci), which is the source of
much of the controversy. Noe wanted an authentic reaction to rape,
one that he claims is missing from other films.
“When you see other movies dealing with rape and crime and
killing, the information goes through the screen, but you
don’t have the emotional sensation of having seen
anything,” he said. “If you want the movie to be
useful, you have to portray it as raw as it can be.”
Noe lauds Bellucci’s bravery in filming that scene,
describing her as much more than a lovely face.
“First thing people say is that she’s the prettiest
woman in the world, but no one talks about how intelligent she
is,” he said. “I don’t know any other actress
that would do the scene the way she did it. She was the director of
the rape scene; I was just the operator.”
Despite the bravery among all involved, the reaction to
“Irreversible” has been harsh ever since last
year’s opening at Cannes. However, it proved an unlikely
success in Europe, even forcing the stringent British censors to
release the film uncut to meet popular demand. Bellucci hopes
“Irreversible” will have the lasting impact of other
button-pushing films.
“This movie’s like “˜A Clockwork Orange,’
like “˜Pi,’ like “˜Requiem for a
Dream,'” said Bellucci. “All those movies are so
difficult to digest, but there is something. There is a meaning.
And you feel so disturbed because you have to see the monsters deep
inside you.”
Cassel acknowledges and shares the difficulty audiences have
with watching “Irreversible,” but values the time he
spent making the film.
“I’ve seen the movie twice, and I don’t want
to see it again,” he said. “Maybe in a few years, but
I’m not in a hurry. But making it was an incredible
experience, and I would do it again tomorrow.”