10 Opening Movie Scenes That Wanted To Make You Uncomfortable

Like just about every Gaspar Noé movie, Irréversible doesn't pretend to be anything than it isn't from the opening bell, kicking off with a bewildering opening titles sequence filled with flashing, colourful credits played in reverse to discordant choral music.

The film's 20-minute opening sequence - which, with its scenes being shown in reverse order, is actually the ending - involves two men, Marcus (Vincent Cassel) and Pierre (Albert Dupontel), entering a gay BDSM club in search of a psychopath called Le Tenia.

Beyond the sheer bewilderment of the sequence being broken up into small scenes which play out in reverse order, Noé employs intentionally unsettling sound and imagery to increase the audience's sense of dread.

During their trip through the club, the camera continually spins around in disorientating fashion, while the sound of the club is "enhanced" by low-frequency background noise intended to induce anxiety and even nausea in some viewers.

And to top it all off, this sequence climaxes with Pierre beating who he thinks is Le Tenia to death with a fire extinguisher - an exchange which Noé lingers on in grotesquely grisly detail.

If you're still with Noé and his story at this point, he's got you, but understandably it proved enough for many - even at its Cannes Film Festival premiere, where a reported 250 people walked out and two-dozen required medical attention from fainting.

So, mission accomplished?