Editing Analysis

WARNING - THIS IS A GRAPHIC SCENE.

(top video shows the unconventional camera movement in the beginning and the below video is the same scene but with English subtitles and it doesn't have the first couple seconds that the first one has)

The Scene I chose to look at is from the french art film Irreversible that came out 2002.  The scene is a man looking for a man at an underground gay/bdsm club that he believes did something to a girl he knows and he is going throughout this club to find him and he ends up getting into a fight, starts losing getting his arm broken and about to get raped until an unknown male hits his fighter in the head repeatedly with a fire extinguisher until he couldn't move and helps the other man up to his feet.

I chose this because of the rawness of this scene as well as the very unusual camera movements. This is shot as a long take scene but does not follow the 180 degree rule and lets the camera move on its own. Basically like having the camera roll around while the person is walking. It gives the scene a very uncomfortable and dizzy feeling. Along with the siren sound playing non-stop that is annoying but also can hypnotize you while watching the scene helps with making this scene feel even more unreal that it already is. The scene is all red lighting which sets it in this weird place especially seeing the very strong sexual content of men raping another man while another is jacking off while watching can be very off putting but to me makes this a scene to never forget. The edits are mainly there to give impact when the man is bashing the males head in. Each time the fire extinguisher hits his head there is a motion blur and motion tracker edit they use to follow the hit and when it is lifted back up. I think having it all in one take shows it doesn't need cuts to successfully create a great scene and I think adding cuts or another angle would disrupt the tone the scene and film was taking from the very beginning. The film is very gory, violent and graphic so its not an everyday watch but I recommend seeing this film if you are someone who is studying film or enjoys good art films/ good movies.