10 Movies You Turned Off After The Opening Scene

Irreversible - something done which cannot be undone. This feeling of fatalism is all pervasive in Gaspar Noé's 2002 psychodrama, based on the horrific events in the lives of three friends in Paris. That the film is presented in reverse chronological order (much like Nolan's Memento) was an effective narrative device that very much speaks to the title - what is done cannot be undone. Perhaps the temporal shift is in some way Noé's attempt to play God, to undo the horror of what Alex (Monica Bellucci) will suffer towards the 'end' of the film.

The film opens with the end credits, which are also run in mirror image, that is to say reversed. The camera work is intensely disorientating, police lights can be seen flashing, a crime is implied. In a moment we are elsewhere; two men, one naked sit upon a bed. One describes how he served time for the rape of his own daughter. This is quite possibly the moment many will switch off.

What follows is one of the bloodiest sequences to ever make it past the censors, as a group of men fight inside a Parisian nightclub from hell. What crime committed could possibly warrant death by fire extinguisher? As we see the punishment served before we see the crime, this only adds to the intrigue, especially as most do not realise the temporal layout of the movie.

To say more would be to spoil this movie entirely but tread carefully - Irréversible is just that. Once you see it, you can't un-see it.