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At first, "Irréversible," the French powder keg of a movie, seems to be all about finding ways to make you shudder. Even before you can figure out what's going on, guys are shouting the filthiest obscenities imaginable. The camera's often spinning like a Tilt-A-Whirl, and when your eyes do finally, barely begin to focus, you're met with that scene of intense, severe physical violence.

Recover from that and a little later comes the flick's kicker: a graphic, nine-minute rape and unconscionable beating of a woman in the underbelly of Paris.

Yep, "Irréversible," which initially seems to be a claustrophobic revenge drama, is challenging, horrific viewing for anyone, and quite controversial.

It caused an unrelenting stink at Cannes. International film critics have wailed nonstop about its brutality, its shock-art swagger, its enigmatic, swirling and stomach-churning cinematography. And to boot, the whole darned thing runs backward, almost exactly like "Memento."

The French can't fathom war in Iraq, but brutality and the spewing of unspeakable profanities in a nightspot dubbed, uh, yes, the Rectum is proper laissez faire?

If movies are visual art, then "Irréversible" is Andres Serrano's "Piss Christ." It is intentionally offensive in its vibrant effort to make a point.

If you can't wrap your head around a crucifix soaking in urine, you certainly aren't going to get much out of this movie. You'll get angry. Probably even storm out. Trust me, I considered that option.

But even as unsavory as the first half of this movie is, the second half is much more quiet, relaxed, revelatory and quite thought-provoking. And it's all the more so because of the nightmare one has just endured.

In part, "Irréversible" is the tale of a guy out to get the despicable, vicious man who attacked and sodomized his girlfriend, then beat her into a coma. It ends up being a study of inevitability, the inhumanity of man, the power of impulse and the destruction of time.

Director Gaspar Noé, who apparently doesn't bank on the goodness in people, has fashioned a sometimes repellent yet deeply moving film.

Its brave actors include Vincent Cassel as Marcus and Albert Dupontel as Pierre, two guys propelled to action after the attack on Marcus' girlfriend, Alex.

Even braver is Monica Bellucci, the celebrated Italian-born actress (she's married to Cassel) whose commitment to this film is more than apparent. As Alex, she is illuminating when talking with her friends and a remarkable heap of desperation in the hands of her attacker.

There are many movies that travel this dark a road -- Mike Leigh's "Naked," David Cronenberg's "Crash," David Lynch's "Blue Velvet," Michael Haneke's "The Piano Teacher" -- but none so blatantly as this in pulling its trigger.

Is "Irréversible" a film to recommend?

Probably not to most people in the world. Anybody who takes a date to this movie deserves to be dumped.

One thing is for sure, much of its lingering effect is exactly the reason some people give up tequila.