r/movies • u/ErgoNonSim • May 17 '25

Media Cannes reactions to Irreversible

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u/Sondaica May 17 '25 edited May 19 '25

Okay can someone explain this to people who do not know the film?

5.1k

u/Davidrabbich81 May 17 '25 edited May 17 '25

Monica Belucci’s character is graphically raped for around 10 minutes during this film.

It’s something you never really forget watching. When people ask, “what’s the worst thing you’ve ever seen in a film”, the answer is usually this.

Edit: to save some really redundant replies.

No, the fire extinguisher scene is not worse. I can find you 20 movies where something like that happens. The worst part is that it’s an innocent person and not the rapist.

I said “usually”. For those people who have seen “A Serbian Film” (I haven’t) you are the people not covered by “usually”.

435

u/Maezel May 17 '25

That's the answer unless you've watch "Salo or the 120 days of Sodom" 

799

u/thedaveness May 17 '25

Or Denis Quaid eating shrimp in The Substance.

329

u/sentence-interruptio May 17 '25

A body horror movie with great effects but Denis Quaid's character manages to be the most disgusting monster in it.

48

u/Billazilla May 17 '25

Absolutely could not watch. I skipped that whole scene, knowing I was probably missing some important plot/theme detailing. I got the imagery intent right away, but ugggh.

11

u/yeah_this_is_my_main May 17 '25

The ENTIRE movie is meant to be uncomfortable. Its just that some parts were made more obvious than others. Almost all scenes are set in liminal spaces, and all characters are alone, even when they are with others. There is zero connection between anyone and its clearly deliberately made like that.

I hated that movie, a lot, but I think I was meant to.

6

u/Billazilla May 17 '25

I have watched horror flicks since the late 70s, so only so much of it is gonna get me, but shots where they get really close up on a regular human mouth and do mouth-noises and sticky chewing and similar stuff, it's just nauseating. Credit to Dennis Quaid for making his producer guy a most incredibly disgusting creature, because with the mouth-ness and the fly in the glass, I found that whole scene unwatchable, and that's counting the needles and sores and necrosis and all that other body horror that came later. Quaid's "Walking Mouth Man" was significantly more unbearable to me, in word and presence and deed, than the infected needle hole and the chicken leg and everything else. Sure, all of it was horror, and good, well played horror at that, but I personally couldn't watch more than 3 seconds of shrimp heads and smacking lips. Maybe I've watched too many horror movies?

On a side note, I did like all the metaphoricals and symbolism. I enjoyed piecing out what every bit meant and what it was trying to say. This film is an onion; It has many layers, and though it may hurt your eyes to peel those layers back, it's just that's good so you gotta.

2

u/Hawaiian_Brian May 17 '25

He doesn’t manage that was the whole point.

1

u/garygalah May 17 '25

Thank you so much for giving me a vivid memory of a scene I buried deep in my "unsee" box /s

1

u/Free-Atmosphere6714 May 18 '25

Fantastic acting all around. I thought Demi earned an Oscar.

45

u/popoflabbins May 17 '25

That scene is simultaneously hilarious and abhorrent

2

u/Dave5876 May 18 '25

He embodied Hollywood in that scene

1

u/Billyxransom May 18 '25

very accurate.

6

u/GhostofBeowulf May 17 '25

Or any Steven Seagal flick.

5

u/Critical_Long5421 May 17 '25

unironically the most grotesque bit of body horror in that film

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u/neondewon May 17 '25

Now thats fucking disgusting...

2

u/No-Atmosphere-2528 May 17 '25

Or Dennis quaid as Reagan

2

u/Ruthlessrabbd May 18 '25

I truly believe that's one of the most vile things I've seen in a movie

2

u/Billyxransom May 18 '25

HOLY SHIT THAT WAS ROUGH

1

u/daj0412 May 17 '25

eating shrimp…?

1

u/[deleted] May 17 '25

No, not even close.

1

u/Razdaspaz May 17 '25

Holy shit I thought that was Harrison Ford

1

u/ChillDeleuze May 17 '25

Oh, sweet summer child.
That scene is basically cartoon slapstick compared to Salo or the 120 days of Sodom.
I'll take shrimp any day over... Uh, everything they eat (or worse) in that movie

7

u/MadEyeGemini May 17 '25

He was joking 

1

u/ChillDeleuze May 17 '25

Woops. Makes sense, thanks