There's a fine line between a film that employs vulgarity to edify and one that uses it in order to induce facile shocks; and while one could interpret Gaspar Noe's Irreversible as a structuralist interpretation of the destructive tendencies of time, one could just as easily call it a well shot snuff film. It's quite obvious that Noe wants to engross us with his horrific images because he feels, by making us do so; he is exposing our naive sheltered minds to the horrors of the real world. The most infuriating part about this notion is that one can imagine Noe arguing that those who don't like the film are simply blissful ignoramuses that are too afraid to come to terms with the fact that life isn't as pleasant as they think it is. Now, while his motives can safely be described as bland, his execution can only be described as repugnant. The film's prologue contains the Neitzsche for dummies aphorism "Time destroys everything." This inane existentialist statement is purported as the film's mantra; because, you see, the lives of our three principle characters are destroyed during the film's ephemeral course. How heady. The title Irreversible is meant to be of both gravitas, and irony; the former due to the fact that any horrific event is cemented in time and the latter due to the film's reverse chronological structure (a la Pinter?'s Betrayal and Nolan's Memento). Noe fancies his film the illegitimate offspring of Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, or Peckinpah's Straw Dogs, unfortunately it seems that I Spit on Your Grave is the actual father.