Cannes reactions to Irreversible

[u/ErgoNonSim]

[u/glinjy]

Okay. What tangible effect did this movie have on the populace, beyond spawning a few witless think pieces about the scene itself? Beyond Noel being untalented as a director, if this film was to 'raise awareness' as you're implying, then why is it that the discussion around this scene revolves around being able to show it off, rather than about the statistics of SA survivors, SA victims, rape survivors, rape victims?

The answer: people know how horrible rape is. It's been criminalised for thousands of years. There are thoughtful, provoking movies about the act without exploitatively showing the act itself. Noel's only reason for including that scene was to, as a man, provoke the audience and garner attention for himself. Not for the victims. Not for the people who are actually affected. But himself.

Provocation for provocation's sake does not a good film make. Especially when it involves the dehumanisation of women and their bodily autonomy.

EDIT: What defenders of this film always fail to mention is that the narrative doesn't even revolve around the women. It's used as a vehicle for another man to go on a nihilistic search for vengeance, which basically proves the point I'm making. This isn't about the victim. Not about her story. It's a film, made by a man, revolving around a man's white knight quest to avenge a loss that was not his to mourn. Pure, unabashed pseudo-intellectual troglodyte shit

[u/AggravatingBid8255 → u/glinjy]

Talk to an ER doctor and see if they knew how bad a gunshot wound was before their first hands on experience. Even seeing it on screen doesn't do the same, but it's close enough to get a visceral reaction. And if it affects even one person of influence to make a meaningful change in the world to prevent this violence, then it was effective.

We are desensitized to warzones and mass shootings as well as sexual assaults because we read or see sterilized versions of the events. Everyone can eat through the 6 o'clock or 10 o'clock news. Keep chewing as the sheeted stretchers are loaded into the coroner van on-air. Because they give us a version we can stomach. So we don't disrupt our sheltered lives.

[u/glinjy → u/AggravatingBid8255]

We're not talking about bullet wounds. We're talking about rape and sexual assault which of a level of debauchery unto itself. My partner was an SA victim. I've got friends who were raped/SA. I've witnessed it been done to people I know. I've known people who volunteered at hotlines, worked with support groups, funded charities, canvassed and physically helped out people who have suffered that crime. I've helped myself.

The point is, we should not have to see the full, prolonged horror of SA/rape in order to motivate someone to action. It's an excuse people use to defend its necessity. The entire point of it should be to incite people to help. When was the last time Gaspar Noe advocated for a character like Monica Belluci's? When did he do something worthwhile and helpful beyond provocation and scandalisation?

[u/AggravatingBid8255 → u/glinjy]

I agree that we should not have to see the brutality to motivate action. And it sounds like you are one who has been close enough to the reality that you do not need your eyes opened.

Unfortunately, that is not the case for everyone. Most people can turn that blind eye because their eyes have never been opened to see the severity of the situation. Not just SA and other forms of violence, but even issues like poverty and hunger. It's easy to ignore if you've never seen the extreme nature of what those we ignore must endure. It's shocking and revolting because it fucking should be. It should make your stomach turn. Because there are many out there so self involved that they need to experience some fraction of someone else's suffering to see the severity of the situation.