Sight and Sound
"...A seductive and powerful film..." 03/01/2003 p.47-8Rolling Stone
"...Noe's considerable accomplishment is to examine the relationship between life and art, time and memory. IRREVERSIBLE means to knock you for a loop. It does..." 03/14/2003 p.74 Entertainment Weekly
"...An amazing, and profoundly disturbing, experience....[Noe is] a new kind of film wizard: a poet of apocalyptic shock..." 03/14/2003 p.45 Premiere
"...This confrontationalist is a moviemaker worth confronting..." 04/01/2003 p.20 Chicago Sun-Times
"...Moral at a structural level..." 03/23/2003 p.5 Total Film
"...Taken as an exploitation flick -- Noe's preference -- this is 100 effective, guaranteed to shock and pummel..." 07/01/2003 p.120 Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
As I said twice and will repeat again, most people will not want to see the film at all. It is so violent, it shows such cruelty, that it is a test most people will not want to endure. But it is unflinchingly honest about the crime of rape. It does not exploit. It does not pander. It has been said that no matter what it pretends, pornography argues for what it shows. Irreversible is not pornography. - Roger Ebert
James Berardinelli's ReelViews 9 of 10
An individual's appreciation of Irreversible will be based in part upon what he or she expects from movies. Those seeking light entertainment or something traditional and/or civilized probably won't make it through Irreversible's 99 minutes. Those up to a challenge who attend with an open mind will find something to gnaw at the soul. Whatever else it may be, Irreversible is disturbingly unforgettable. It is impossible to have a blase reaction to a film this visceral. Indifference is not an option. - James Berardinelli
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