Movie: Irréversible (2002)

Director: Gaspar Noé

Stars: Monica Bellucci, Vincent Cassel, Albert Dupontel

Told backwards, extreme French auteur Gaspar Noé's Irréversible depicts the aftermath of the most brutal rape scene in all of cinema. Clocking in at nearly 11 minutes long, the unbearably savage sequence is the film's cruel centerpiece. Shot in one unbroken take, the crime is committed in an underground walkway lit red, like everything is occurring behind a wall of blood. Monica Bellucci, who plays the victim, is something like a performance artist for her work here.

Is it worth it? That's up the viewer. —MB