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Sienna Miller Traumatised By Monica Bellucci Rape Scene

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Updated on July 6, 2023

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Sienna Miller believes she’ll never be startled by a love scene in a movie again after seeing Monica Bellucci’s rape scene in ‘Irreversible.’

The British actress claims that the horrifying sex scene in Gaspar Noe’s controversial 2002 film “traumatised” her, and that she can no longer even pretend to be horrified by sex on television.

“I couldn`t watch Irreversible. I was traumatised. I like to act to feign shock because it`s what you`re supposed to do but actually, deep down, it`s not that shocking. Irreversible was a shocking and brutal film,” she told Contactmusic.

“Watching two men (making love) in a scene is actually not shocking anymore,” she added.

There is no denying that Irreversible is not an easy watch. A 10-minute rape scene and a murder push the endurance and sensitivity of even the hardiest of filmgoers, while the film’s initial low-frequency background noise (similar to the noise produced by an earthquake), strobe lighting effects and a camera constantly in motion are designed to disorientate and disarm the viewer (with, in some cases, stomach- wrenching results).

However, it is this manipulation of the audience, rather than actors or characters, that makes Irreversible such a triumph of style and an extremely riveting watch.

The plot itself is simple: a man seeks revenge for an appalling crime against his girlfriend, and, told conventionally, it would be the B-movie revenge claptrap (as some saw fellow French movie Baise Moi 12 months earlier) that one of the film’s characters so despises.

However, Argentinian-born writer-director Noe (who would later go on to make the equally polarising and edgy Enter the Void and Climax) uses a memento-style backwards narrative (which even extends to rolling the end credits in reverse order at the start of the movie) that not only turns Irreversible into a challenging and compelling mystery, but also makes a mockery of those who claim the movie is irredeemable. It is only in the final frames that we can make sense of what has gone before/after, so it’s no wonder the walkouts were the ones complaining.

Extensive use of unscripted dialogue and a slanted, dizzying and gliding camera add to intrigue and make the central shocking scene all the more disturbing, as Noe’s fixed camera gives the viewer, like Monica Bellucci’s (The Matrix Revolutions) Alex nowhere to hide. Bellucci herself describes Irreversible as a film that people love or hate, but it’s good to have these kinds of extremes.

Seen now, 20 years after the cacophony of hot, often unseen takes that surrounded its release, Irreversible still shapes up as one of the most provocative and powerful pieces of cinema this century.

Monica Bellucci: I’m not a Bond girl, I’m a Bond woman

13 Oct 2015.

Spectre stars Monica Bellucci, who plays Lucia Sciarra, with Daniel Craig (Picture: Jonathan Olley/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc./PA Wire)

Monica Bellucci, an actress and model, made news earlier this year when she was named the “oldest Bond girl” ever, at 51 years old, four years older than her Spectre co-star Daniel Craig.

According to The Guardian, the monster babe rejects the label of “Bond Girl” since she embraces her age.

‘I’m a true woman, not a Bond girl. That’s why I say all the time: “James Bond lady,” “James Bond woman”,’ she told the publication.

Bellucci will, in fact, be the oldest actress to play a Bond love interest in the long-running series. Bond’s prior love relationships have averaged roughly 29 years old, however Honor Blackman, who played Pussy Galore in Goldfinger, was 38 years old at the time (1964).

Monica’s alter-ego shares a kiss with Bond in Sam Smith’s Writing On The Wall video (Picture: Planet Photos)

“Things right now are changing,” she adds. “I live in France and I see all these actresses like Nathalie Baye, Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Kristin Scott Thomas, Charlotte Rampling, they’re all having great careers.”

Monica’s French Spectre co-star Lea Seydoux, 30, on the other hand, revealed last weekend that she had to ‘work hard’ and ‘get fit’ for her Bond part.

Bond has received a lot of flak recently, with his ‘lonely misogyny’ (Daniel Craig’s words, not mine) prompting the spy to be granted a ‘outspoken gay friend’ in the most recent Bond novel.

She went on to say how glad she is to be a Bond lady, saying, “I’m proud to be a Bond lady, because actually, Bond is the most amazing man. You know why? Because he doesn’t exist.”

Bellucci featured in Alice Rohrwacher’s The Wonders, one of the best films of the year, in which she portrays the host of a reality TV show looking for Italy’s most conventional family.