10 Hardest-To-Watch Scenes In Cinema History

2. The Rape - Irréversible

It is notorious as one of cinema's most sickening and unbearable scenes, made so by the fact that it takes place within the confines of a single take - no cutting away to make things easier on the audience. Just a horrific sexual assault, as it happens, in real time. This is the infamous rape scene in Gaspar Noé's insanely controversial film Irréversible, of course, and it is without a doubt the most difficult to watch of its kind - the most brutal depiction of the most unforgivable act ever committed to celluloid. At 11-minutes long, it's hard to know how to feel about the sequence that sees Monica Bellucci attacked in an underpass and subjected to outright torture by a stranger. It's that harrowing. The scene caused a major stir when the film was first released because many viewers felt violated having been forced to sit through such a long and grim sequence - one that drags on and on until you feel like it has to end. And it doesn't. Art or exploitation, Monica Bellucci must be commended for taking on such a brave and risky role, though. But you wouldn't want to sit through it again. Once was torment enough.