There is nothing beautiful about Irréversible, and for that reason I love it.

Gaspar Noé’s infamous 2002 psychological thriller tells the tale of a woman being brutally raped and her boyfriend’s resulting descent into madness as he attempts to avenge her. The film presents their story in reverse chronological order, which offers a unique layer to the plot and the way the characters can be perceived.

As a person who has seen a good amount of shallow, pseudo-intellectual films symbolizing mankind’s descent into savagery, I can say this isn’t one of them. Irréversible does show the same descent but it does so through shameless depiction of humanity’s worst moments, which, after watching, actually made me feel guilty for even being a part of society. However, this unapologetic demonstration does cause some logistical problems: if you are even the slightest bit squeamish I wouldn’t recommend you watch this movie. Between the rape scene clocking in at 10 minutes and an on-screen death by fire extinguisher, nothing is left to the imagination.

The story unfolds in 13 scenes with each scene maintaining one extremely long shot. These prolonged shots offer viewers the perspective of a character in the film, making it even harder to watch. Style like this also showcases filmmaking as an artform, rapid camera motion in moments of chaos and steady focus in the more tranquil ones. Although it may seem obvious when written this detail is easily overlooked when trying to focus on dialogue.

Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel play the lead roles and both actors are exceptionally convincing in their respective parts. I was particularly impressed by Vincent Cassel’s playing the role of Marcus, the vengeful boyfriend, he was able to make me like his character even after I had seen him go insane.

Irréversible remains entertaining from start to end through unique storytelling and a stripped down depiction of the worst parts of humanity. Even though it is stylish and and well developed the film is not beautiful, so save the wine and don’t expect a glamorous “motion picture” jam-packed with vanity.