Research Catalog

Title

Irreversible / Tim Palmer.

Author

Palmer, Tim, 1975-

Publication

London ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xxiv, 164 p. : illustrations; 19 cm.

Summary

"Gaspar Noé's Irreversible is uncompromising and visceral, an essential piece of modern cinema. Punctuated by dazzling avant-garde techniques, the film depicts, in reverse-chronological order, a woman's rape and her boyfriend and friend's subsequent hunt for vengeance through the underworld of Paris. Confrontational yet influential, Irreversible has polarized audiences since its release in 2002, making it until now almost impossible to study dispassionately. This first book-length study of Irreversible situates Noé's work in the ecosystem of contemporary French media, exploring how Irreversible and a larger-scale Cinéma du corps actually inspired France's film resurgence in the early twenty-first century. From there, Palmer shows Irreversible to be one of the most subversive star vehicles in recent world cinema, in the form of its iconic lead performers, Vincent Cassel, Monica Bellucci, and Albert Dupontel. Investigating the spectrum of reactions created by Noé's film -- through its pugnacious stylistic design, its on-screen deconstruction of Paris, its international critical reception and its unexpectedly utopian counterpoints to violence and despair -- the book generates a new rational dialogue about Irreversible that challenges any instinct simply to reject or condemn it. "--

Series Statement

Controversies

Uniform Title

Controversies (Palgrave Macmillan)

Subject

• Irréversible (Motion picture : 2002)
• ART / Film & Video
• SOCIAL SCIENCE / Media Studies

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 147-155) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Introduction -- Civilization and Its Discontents: Irreversible in the French Film Ecosystem -- Irreversible and the Cinéma du corps -- Gaspar Noé: Alone Against Everything -- Noé Destroys All Things: Irreversible's Narrative and Stylistic Design -- Cassel, Bellucci, Dupontel: Irreversible as Rogue Star Vehicle -- All of the Evil of This World: Irreversible's Critical Reception in France, the UK, and North America -- Bellucci's Body: From Rape to Reverence -- Conclusion.

ISBN

• 9780230336971 (pbk.)
• 0230336973 (pbk.)

LCCN

^^2014037843

OCLC

• 885228541
• SCSB-12725313

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library