Yes, if: You’re a serious film student, a masochist for formal experimentation, or want to understand the limits of cinematic realism. No, if: You have triggers related to sexual assault, graphic violence, or misophonia. Seriously. No one will judge you for skipping this one.

Irreversible is not a film you watch; it is a film you survive. It is a radical, ugly, beautiful, and profoundly moral work that argues that to understand the weight of a tragedy, you must first see the ashes, then the fire, and finally—most painfully—the light that existed before any of it began. You cannot un-see it. That is the point.