12 Great Movies That You'll Never Watch Again (And Why)
5. Irreversible (2002)
What It's About: This French mystery thriller follows the boyfriend (Vincent Cassel) and best friend (Albert Dupontel) of a woman named Alex (Monica Bellucci) as they attempt to track down a pimp that has been terrorising their Parisian neighbourhood. After tiring of her boyfriends womanising and drug use, Alex storms out of a party they are attending and, unaware of the danger it puts her in, walks through a subway tunnel used by the pimp.
Why It's Great: Director Gasper Noe takes the kind of story that is normally hard to watch even in a news bulletin format and turns it into something you cant take your eyes off. Underneath the gratuitous violence is a technically brilliant movie that hurtles along at such a disjointed, yet unrelenting pace that you never really get time to stop and be disgusted. Instead, Cassel, Bellucci and Dupontel take you on a thrill ride that youre unlikely to ever forget.
Why You'll Never Watch It Again: You are practically forced to see this film again after having it burned into your eyelids. Monica Belluccis infamous rape scene takes place over several minutes in one uncut, unbelievably difficult to watch shot. The ordeal is made worse by the fact that a random member of the public stumbles across the rape, hesitates, then just walks the other way. If the onslaught of sadism and sexism isnt enough to put you off buying the DVD, the insane level of violence just might do it, with no attempt made to cut away at the most graphic moments.