“Irréversible: Straight Cut / Alex”, Original Japanese First Release Movie Poster 2020, Gaspar Noé, B2 Size (51 × 73 cm) S54

This is an original Japanese B2 theatrical poster produced for the 2020 Japanese release of Gaspar Noé’s Irréversible: Straight Cut, released in Japan under the title Alex: Straight Cut (アレックス STRAIGHT CUT).

Starring Monica Bellucci, Vincent Cassel, and Albert Dupontel, the film is Gaspar Noé’s chronological re-edit of his notorious 2002 feature Irréversible. Rather than presenting the story backwards as in the original cut, Straight Cut reconstructs the events in chronological order, radically changing the emotional experience of the film while leaving its central themes of violence, love, fate and irreversible consequence intact.

This Japanese B2 is an especially powerful design, dominated by Monica Bellucci’s profile against an oppressive field of deep crimson and black, with reversed typography referencing the formal structure that made the original film famous.

Film background

Gaspar Noé’s original Irréversible became one of the most controversial films of the early 2000s.

The story centres on Alex, Marcus and Pierre, played respectively by Monica Bellucci, Vincent Cassel and Albert Dupontel. In the original 2002 version, the narrative unfolds in reverse chronological order, beginning with devastating consequences and gradually travelling backwards towards the comparatively ordinary and intimate events that preceded them.

Its reverse structure transformed the film into a brutal meditation on causality: the audience knows the final outcome before being shown the lives and relationships that will eventually be destroyed.

For Irréversible: Straight Cut, Noé reorganised the film into chronological order. The new version begins with the characters before tragedy enters their lives and proceeds forward towards its increasingly harrowing conclusion.

The re-edit therefore produces a dramatically different experience. Rather than uncovering the past behind a catastrophe, the viewer watches happiness, intimacy and normality gradually move towards an outcome that cannot be stopped.

The chronological version received its world premiere at the 76th Venice International Film Festival in 2019, an accolade prominently referenced on this Japanese campaign poster.

Poster design

This Japanese B2 uses a remarkably severe and controlled visual composition.

The entire poster is saturated in dark blood-red, burgundy and black, immediately recalling the suffocating visual atmosphere of Noé’s film.

At left, Monica Bellucci as Alex appears in profile, illuminated by harsh orange-red light while almost disappearing into the surrounding darkness.

The image is intimate but ominous. Rather than using action imagery or a conventional cast montage, the poster isolates Alex as the emotional centre of the story.

Her figure occupies almost the full vertical height of the sheet, while the large surrounding fields of red and black create a sense of claustrophobia and impending catastrophe.

Reversed typography

Running vertically along the right side is the enormous English title:

“IRREVERSIBLE”

The typography uses reversed or mirrored letterforms, directly referencing the formal device of Noé’s original film.

The same visual strategy appears in the cast billing at left:

BƎLLUCCI
CASSƎL
DUPONTƎL

This is an especially clever element of the Japanese design.

Although this poster advertises the chronological “Straight Cut”, its graphic identity deliberately preserves the reversed typography associated with the original Irréversible, visually connecting the two versions of the film.

Japanese campaign copy

The principal vertical tagline reads:

「時はすべてを破壊する」

“Time destroys everything.”

This is the defining philosophical statement associated with the film and encapsulates Noé’s bleak view of time as an unstoppable force against which human actions cannot be undone.

At upper left, the promotional text stresses the film’s notorious reputation:

「途中退場者続出。映画史上最も禁忌を侵した傑作、日本劇場本公開」

Approximately:

“Audiences walked out one after another. The masterpiece that violated some of the greatest taboos in film history—now released theatrically in Japan.”

The copy deliberately foregrounds the controversy that has surrounded the film since its original release.

The Japanese title dominates the lower portion:

「アレックス」
“Alex”

followed by:

“STRAIGHT CUT”

The use of Alex’s name as the Japanese title places Monica Bellucci’s character at the emotional centre of the campaign, rather than foregrounding the more abstract international title.

Gaspar Noé and Irréversible

Gaspar Noé is one of the most visually and formally provocative filmmakers in contemporary European cinema.

Across films including I Stand Alone, Enter the Void, Love, Climax and Vortex, he has repeatedly experimented with narrative structure, extreme camera movement, colour, sound and subjective experience.

Irréversible remains perhaps his most notorious work.

The Straight Cut is particularly fascinating because it demonstrates how profoundly editing and chronology can alter the meaning of identical footage. The events themselves remain substantially unchanged, yet rearranging their order transforms how the audience understands the characters, their relationships and the inevitability of the film’s conclusion.

This Japanese poster captures that duality brilliantly through its combination of a chronological re-release and deliberately reversed graphic typography.

Condition

Very Good+.

The poster retains excellent colour density, deep reds and blacks, strong photographic detail and very powerful overall display impact.

There is light handling and surface wear, together with minor edge wear and small tear (repaired with archival tape on verso) along the right-hand margin, visible in the detailed photographs. 

These issues have been taken into account in the condition grade.

Importantly, the principal image of Monica Bellucci, title typography and main red-black design remain strong and visually striking. Once professionally framed, this poster will display extremely well.

Please review all photographs carefully—they show the exact poster for sale.

This poster is an original Japanese theatrical B2 from the 2020 Straight Cut release campaign.
It is not an original 2002 theatrical poster, and it is not a reproduction or modern reprint.

Certificate of Authenticity included.