2. Irreversible
When Nicolas Winding Refn was directing the above 'head-stomp' scene in
Drive, he sought the advice of Gaspar Noe; clearly a connoisseur of such matters. For Noe's 2002
Irreversible, a film already famous (or, rather, infamous) for its nine-minute rape scene, has another contender for controversy. In a Parisian gay club called The Rectum, Pierre (Albert DuPontel) believes he has seen the man who had sexually attacked his ex-girlfriend Alex (Monica Belucci) earlier that evening. He pushes him to the ground, reaches for a fire extinguisher and, amidst an apathetic crowd, repeatedly smashes his face beyond all recognition. His features are quickly flattened like clay, his eyes hollowed out with every blow. It's an astoundingly bleak scene; grim, grotesque and breathtakingly graphic. All the while, the camera refuses to cut away. And it's made all the more shocking when we consider the film's non-linear narrative has presented us with the revenge before the rape. And of course, as we arrive at the bigger picture far, far, too late- we can see that it's the wrong man.