Noé continues, “My two previous films were very linear. Then I saw Memento and the nonlinear structure was much more mental. I was trying to think of something using reverse chronology, and then I remembered a rape idea I’d had before. So we decided we’d do a reverse revenge script. I wrote down 12 scenes, no real script. And we all just said, ‘OK let’s do it!’ Monica and Vincent had this incredible energy! We had to shoot very quickly. But we could do whatever we wanted to do. It took six weeks to prepare and write the outline, and then six weeks to shoot.”

The reverse structure works brilliantly, examining the violence and revenge with a startling insight. “At the beginning of the film they’re just redneck thugs,” Noé says, “but you get to know them. It’s about tragedy, about how people can’t fight their fate. People try to fight for survival and they get into this revenge trip that’s stronger than their personality.”

NOT THE USUAL CRAP. Cassel was drawn to work with Noé after seeing his first two films. “They were shocking. They had the ability to provoke reactions as opposed to the usual crap,” he says. “With this movie some people, such as my family, looked at me after the screening like they didn’t know me. I saw it twice and I’ll never watch it again. But I’m glad I did something important with an impact like this. It was actually fun to make; we had a good time making it. I know Monica had a great time!”

Noé agrees, adding that “every day was like a party. You don’t see the fun we had shooting the film. We never knew what would happen. It was intuitive and very creative.”

Although the rape scene required extra care. Cassel left the set while they were filming it. “I went to southwest France to surf. I suggested that I leave, and Monica asked me not to be there. I knew the actor who played the rapist; he’s a boxer and he knows how to control the scene physically. I knew Gaspar and I trusted him. I knew what he was looking for. And the floor was made out of rubber.”

Noé adds that the scene was not filmed to be either erotic or unerotic. “The rape is seen from the victim’s point of view,” he says “It’s almost cartoonish, too bad to be real. The camera is stuck to the floor like she is; we are in her head. And the people who complain about that scene tend to be men, control freaks who don’t like the angle. I think it plays on their fear of being raped. On the other hand, during the revenge scene in the gay club the camera was excited, like the guys in the scene. But during the rape I put the camera on the floor. And at the end, the guy’s dick coming out was computer-generated. I added it in later because it made it look more real. When Monica saw it she liked it. But I didn’t expect men to be more offended by that scene than women!”