This is the only movie I’ve ever rated 5 stars. The reason is quite self-centered: it’s the movie I wish I had came up with. It’s choking and controversial, just my type of story. There’s no middle term, you either like or not, and if you do it is because you enjoy to be disturbed. I look for that constantly in cinema. Something that makes me think, something that defies me and the idea I hold of things. Therefore, this piece is unavoidable for me. It’s human, uncensored, raw. Since the sounds that make you sick to the camera work, and the system of telling a story backwards works wonderfully. You end up knowing the characters all the same and you feel sympathetic for them all the same or even more, because you know what awaits them. In the end is undoubtedly far more interesting than watching a linear story.

It’s Noé’s life movie – at least it is the most commented. And at the end it doesn’t matter if people talk good or bad about it, as long as they talk about it. Got to like him and the way he works. I felt on a dream during the all thing. I appreciate his methods as much as his themes. He is very loose about the opinions regarding his work, which is the secret to it: you can’t make something hopping that everyone will enjoy it, you’ll be conditioning the piece and end up satisfying no one.

The rape scene is heartbreaking and the actors commitment is laudable. Bellucci proves she isn’t just a pretty face and stands up to the intensity of the scene that lasted nine minutes without cuts. The man standing at the end of the tunnel for a moment during the rape, leaving few second later is also very well placed – another kick in the stomach for the audience. At this point people usually accuse me of being insensitive towards what’s happening, but the truth is that crimes against women, and rape in particular touch me deeply. I’m not excusing myself however of being a sadistic person. Is just that people who, like me, tend to rationalize a lot about something, often do it through confrontation.

This type of approach of a story has also the vantage of the fake happy ending. It ends in a peaceful place although you know it’s an illusion. Whatever is to happen will happen, no matter the signs you get previously. Ain’t that compelling enough?