Monica Bellucci in Gaspar Noé's "Irréversible" [2002 France]

Sometimes I feel watching Gaspar Noé films is akin to paying someone to get yourself slapped. That is certainly the case with the shocking drama "Irréversible" [Eng. Title: Irreversible]. To describe the film as provocative would indeed be an understatement. If his earlier feature "Seul Contre Tous" shook you up, "Irréversible" will hit you with a sledgehammer. M. Noé had declared himself the moral conscience of world cinema.

But contrary to some misconceptions, this film is not about violence - sexual or otherwise. So what is it about? At its heart, the film questions rationale behind the deep-seated human instinct for revenge and the desire for retribution. Because the consequences of our actions, whether intended or not, would be irreversible. Some of the most violent imagery ever put to film has actually been used to convey a deeply pacifist message. Noé's hatred of violence is crying out for everyone to see in the very manner in which these scenes are filmed. Not only does the screenplay run in reverse to show the effects of one's actions before they're committed, there's also a conscious albeit futile effort in every scene to stop certain things from happening. No matter how you see it, this is superlative scripting. There's a whole 'bloody' lot to soak from the film, which makes it necessary to watch it more than once, unpleasant scenes notwithstanding.

Some telling passages of play occur during conversations in the train and later at the discotheque that not only sheds light on the three main characters - Alex, Marcus, and Pierre, but also on the precarious nature of their relationship - at least two of them shouldn't stay friends. Marcus and Pierre have been friends for years. Alex and Marcus are a couple, but before that she was in a relationship with Pierre for four years. Pierre still loves Alex and finds it difficult to move on, Alex is aware of this but cruelly flirts with him, only to later ask him not to torture himself by harbouring feelings for her. They're at a party organised by Pierre's friends. After getting fed up with Marcus for making a fool of himself following drugs and alcohol, Alex leaves, alone. At a subway road crossing, she's randomly attacked by a gay thug in one of the most horrific rape scenes captured in cinema. But this is just the beginning of an orgy of violence that ensues.

Granted, one wouldn't normally place Monica Bellucci who plays Alex in the same acting pedestal as, say a Meryl Streep. But in terms of physicality she's up there among the very best actresses in the industry. Every now and again, she pulls out all stops to deliver some of the most harrowing scenes, like in the all-female lynching scene from Giuseppe Tornatore's "Malèna". She surpasses that here to the extent that during the shoot, her battered face apparently even made her co-star, co-producer and future husband Vincent Cassel (who plays Marcus) cry on set.

Right from the titles to the end credits, there is so much to write about this gem of a film. Gaspar Noé's sense of humour is also amply evident on several occasions - like his choice and style of typography for the credits. The film also starts interestingly with the butcher from "Seul Contre Tous" making a shocking confession from his flat. The camera then pans downstairs to show men pouring out of 'Rectum', the infamous gay bar where some more violent scenes are played out. Apart from scripting and directing the film, M. Noé also handles the cinematography and editing, both thoroughly disorientating. Add to this the unnerving sound mix, and you now have a dizzying unpleasant ride ahead - unpleasant acts to witness, profound truths to unravel, and our incomplete evolution as human beings to reflect on. Needless to say, Highly Recommended Viewing..!

Amazon DVD Link




Compilation: Monica Bellucci
Taken from some of the more humane scenes from the film.



Scene Guide:

• A long post-coital scene where we get to know more about the relationship between Alex and Marcus as they make their plans for the evening's party organised by Pierre, their friend, but who was once also Alex's partner. Alex is of course played by the legendary Italian bombshell Monica Bellucci.
• Alex discovers she's pregnant.
• At the party, Alex tries to keep Pierre company as Marcus flirts with the other girls. She soon gets fed up and leaves, setting off a chain of events.

Scene: Monica Bellucci
This is the infamous rape scene that no one in their right mind would watch for pleasure. Download at your own discretion. And I'm also not going to glorify this scene with any custom graphics.





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Laura Chiatti & Monica Bellucci in "Manuale d'Amore 3" [2011 Italy]

Giovanni Veronesi's third offering of his successful "Manuale d'Amore" series of films, (also called "Manuale d'Am3re") [Eng. Title: Manual of Love 3] follows the tried and tested formula used in the previous 2 editions - three light and loosely inter-twined segments dealing with affairs of the heart (and sex), and filled with big-name stars.

The breezy comedy starts with Roberto's story - an up and coming lawyer who's despatched to a Tuscan village to expropriate land for a new development. Already engaged to Sara (played by the gorgeous Valeria Solarino), he finds himself drawn to the wild village beauty Micol, which every man in the village seems to covet, and they have a brief fling until sanity prevails and Micol's husband returns from his business trip. The second one is of happily married and successful television presenter Fabio whose one night of indiscretion after a party leads to his losing everything he had taken for granted, thanks to deranged stalker Eliana (played excellently by sexy Donatella Finocchiaro). The final story is an unlikely romance between stripper Viola and an American scholar Adrian (played by Robert de Niro) - this I think is also the weakest of the three segments.

The film is flawless technically, but just as the earlier two films, the focus is on light entertainment, so don't expect anything deep here. The film also features a couple of brief nude scenes, and the compilation below was made from the recently released DVD.




Compilation: Laura Chiatti and Monica Bellucci



Scene Guide:

• From the first segment - Roberto's initial fascination with the unconventional Micol becomes a brief but passionate love afair. Micol is played by the ever beautiful Laura Chiatti.
• No nudity - Roberto visits Micol to end it all, but soon realises he isn't calling the shots - they are interrupted by Micol's husband who returns early from his business trip.
• Brief nudity, from the third segment - American art historian Adrian lives in Rome as a tenant of his close friend Augusto. Augusto's daughter Viola returns from Paris after 10 years, but is chucked out when Augusto learns that she's been making a living as a stripper. Viola stays at Adrian's place and they become close. She teaches Adrian striptease (I've shortened this bit - don't worry), and end up in bed. Viola is played by the delectable and sensual Monica Bellucci.

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Monica Bellucci in "Combien tu m'aimes?" [2005 France, Italy]

Bertrand Blier is one of those directors you'd either love or simply hate. He is an often misunderstood satirist who let's a theme run its course, often to the most brutally honest conclusion, in the process throwing sentiment and wishful thinking out of the window.

M. Blier raises some interesting questions in his 2005 comedy drama, "Combien tu m'aimes?" [Eng. Title: How Much do you Love Me?] - what would you do if you won the lottery, can love be purchased, can a prostitute ever cease to be one, can an ordinary person dream beyond his means. His answers to all these questions are there in the film, if you care to see.

This film could have also made a rather good play because the screenplay and situations have a distinctly theatrical feel about it, and the characters are more or less caricatures of themselves. You have the dreary clerk, who propositions a prostitute to live with him - he intends to use the winnings from a lottery for this purpose, the prostitute who likes the idea of change but finds domestic bliss too humdrum, you have her pimp and husband who's caught between his innate obnoxious nature and feelings of love for her, and you have the clerk's friend - a doctor who pretends to live with a woman who had died years ago. All these characters play out their roles the way M. Blier sees it. And he shows the middle-finger to those who expect a 'conventional' ending. Even some Bertrand Blier fans hate this film, but they forget, this is the way he had always made his films.

There are only a few brief nude scenes in the film, but it is more than made up by the magnetic presence of one Monica Bellucci, who plays the Italian prostitute Daniela, whom bank clerk François hires as a live-in 'wife' for 100,000 Euro a month. Sig.ra Bellucci was already forty when she made this film, but gives womenkind a masterclass in the art of seduction and sensuality, using not much more than her eyes and body. If nothing else, the film is worth a sleepless night at least for those God-given curves. I've therefore included some non-nude but nevertheless sensual and funny scenes that I believe to be the 'visual' highlights of the film, cut straight from my DVD.




Compilation 1: a combination of several scenes:

1. Daniela takes pity on François' low esteem and rewards him by being a loving wife.
2. Daniela and François having sex in the car.
3. An exhibitionist Daniela gives the poor old doctor heart failure when he's summoned to examine her nausea - she even throws up in the scene. But, is it just me who thinks even that is somewhat sexy? (I probably need to go and see somebody!)
4. Mourning over, Daniela asks François to come with her to southern Italy.

Compilation 2 - made from several scenes:

1. This is a funny scene - an annoyed neighbour, distracted by Daniela's loud moans, knocks on their door and asks Daniela not to pretend for the sake of it - she then goes to show them how a real orgasm would actually sound like! The neighbour is played by the sexy and funny Farida Rahouadj.
2. Daniela is brought back home by Charly, her husband-pimp, after threatening poor old François over the consequences. But she's by now grown fond of François' gentle touch and doesn't quite like Charly's anymore. When questioned, she tells him that despite knowing who she was, François gave her back her modesty, to which Charly says he too could give her back her modesty. He summons his bodyguards in, and asks them to touch her all they want. Gérard Depardieu plays Charly, and this is probably the weakest character I've seen him play -  he was probably returning Blier a favour.
3. When Charly allows Daniela to return back to François, she finds him busy shagging his next door neighbour. When she knocks on their door for an explanation, he excuses himself by saying he can't possibly leave her half way, and they ask for a few more minutes to finish the job!
4. François lets Daniela know that he hadn't won the lottery after all, and it was just an excuse to get her to live with him. A furious Daniela also appears to be in love, and for a change, he takes her like a man. What's interesting is Blier shows Daniela crying with ecstasy while making love. Hmmm...!

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Monica Bellucci in "Le Pacte des Loups" BR720 [2001 France]

The 2001 drama fantasy by Christophe Gans, "Le Pacte des Loups" [Eng. Title: Brotherhood of the Wolf] is partly based on French folklore, but it is light entertainment from start to finish, and would probably appeal to teenagers where a mix of sex and violence is dished out in a sophisticated style, like the gorgeous eighteenth century costumes and over-the-top decor.

One however is inclined to bear any level of mediocrity for a glimpse of the delectable Monica Bellucci. She plays Sylvia - a mysterious courtesan who bewitches our hero, who's out in that neck of the woods to capture a monster werewolf, along with his native American side-kick. I had reviewed scenes and cut these clips from Blu-ray a while ago, so this film is purely here for the record.

Scene 1:
Our hero and his sidekick are invited to the local bordello. For the courtesans, the sight of a native American in their village is as much a matter of curiosity as is Sylvia beguiling to our hero.







Scene 2:
Further scenes of the captivating Sylvia in sheer costumes - and our hero waking up from a 'scary' dream involving her.





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