Irreversible

Gaspar Noe's notorious I STAND ALONE (1998) came with a flashing intertitle advising squeamish moviegoers that they had 30 seconds to leave the theater before the film reached its grisly climax. Noe's latest provocation could have used two such warnings: It contains a pair of scenes so brutal — one an excruciating, 10-minute rape — that they've reportedly left viewers in a faint. Whether you take the film as a deliberately vile act of filmmaking that unpacks rape-revenge scenarios while making a point about male desire, or simply as a deliberately vile piece of filmmaking, one thing is certain: It's about as close to a physical assault on viewers as movies ...