Movies That Earned Boos and Walkouts, From ‘Taxi Driver’ to ‘Neon Demon’
A man being bludgeoned to death by a fire extinguisher in the Gaspar Noe’s 2002 Irreversible.
Gaspar Noé’s first Palme d’or contender, Irréversible was so controversial that even before it was shown, the press proclaimed, “This will be the most walked-out-of movie of 2003.”
Even fans of the movie, such as Roger Ebert, admitted, “This is a movie so violent and cruel that most people will find it unwatchable.”
Vincent Cassel and Albert Dupontel seek to avenge the rape of a woman (Monica Bellucci).
The film is told in reverse chronological order, but the scene that caused outrage was a grueling 10-minute one-take detailing the rape of Alex, who is also beaten into a coma.
Reports exaggerated the number of audience members who actually fainted, threw up, or walked out during the “Irréversible” screening.
Other shocking acts of violence include a man being bludgeoned with a fire extinguisher.
The narrative structure was inspired by Christopher Nolan’s film, Memento, of 2000.
Irréversible was shot using a widescreen lightweight Minima Super16 mm camera.
The film consists of about a dozen unbroken shots, melded together from hundreds of shots.
Rape Scene: Longest in Film History?
This included the infamous nine-minute-long rape scene, portrayed in a single, unbroken shot. Noé said he had no idea how long the rape scene was going to last, as this was determined by Monica Bellucci, who directed the scene, and Jo Prestia, who played her assailant.
Noé stated in interviews that during the production of the film he used cocaine in order to help him carry the large cameras needed to capture the rotating shots in the film.
Computer-generated imagery was used in post-production for the penis in the rape scene.
In the scene where Pierre beats a man’s face and crushes his skull with a fire extinguisher, CGI was used to enhance the results, as initial footage using conventional latex dummy were not convincing.
During the first sixty minutes of its running time, the film uses an extremely low-frequency sound of 27Hz to create a state of nausea and anxiety in the audience.
This technique, called Sensurround, involves the intentional use of sub-audible sound to enhance the spectator’s experience of a movie, in this case, deliberately making them uncomfortable.
