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Djordjije Lekovic writes re Irreversible:

"The imagery is striking, but still I find it easy to subscribe the
formalistic aspect of this film to the psycho-analytic approach. For example:
the clockwise movement of the camera, evident throughout the film (especially
at the end) and the jarring non-coherent imagery that becomes more stable as
we progress and collect more information, all interwined with the constant
descension into underground and ending with the subway/tunnel scene."

I think that, should you watch the film again, you will find that the movement
of the camera is not always, or even particularly, "clockwise". In the opening
shots, for example, the camera jerks back and forth, both clockwise and
counterclockwise. If I recall correctly, the camera follows Alex into the
tunnel counterclockwise; there's signficant counterclockwise movement during
the party scene (going up into the loft area, for example; and the camera
follows the trio of friends into the subway car counterclockwise, etc etc etc.

I'm not sure what DL means by "non-coherent imagery".

Also, for what it's worth, I spoke to Gaspar Noe for a couple of hours --
principally, to be sure, about technical aspects of making Irreversible.
Nothing in his conversation made me suspect that the movie was anything but a
narrative of events presented, for philosophical effect, backwards. Nothing he
said even hinted at the bulk of the film's being a dream. He did say, with a
kind of giggly boyish excitement, he was delighted by the wide variety of
reactions to the film.

A couple of other notes re the film. I suspect everyone already knows this,
but since the New York Times and Variety have misrepresented both the content
of the film and its form I thought I'd reiterate:

1. The film is not made up of 12 continuous takes. There are in fact well over
one hundred shots in the film. Even the infamous rape scene is two takes
(there is a digital 'cut' [transition] as Alex descends into the tunnel). The
scene in Club Rectum is made up of over thirty shots. etc etc

2. The fellow Alex's ex-boyfriend kills in the Club is NOT her rapist, La
Tenia.

Happy scholarshipping,
Bob Davis