Galway Film Society

Revanche

Dir: Götz Spielmann - Germany 2008 - 122 mins

Revanche ("revenge"), which won the Best European Film award in the Panorama sidebar at Berlin, is a stylish and suspense-filled thriller. Alex is a disgruntled, ex-con working in a Viennese brothel. His only respite is his love for Ukrainian prostitute Tamara who reluctantly plies her trade in the same brothel. While out in the sun-dappled countryside, Susanne and inexperienced cop Robert have just moved into their new home. Two couples in seemingly diametrical opposition are brought into one another's spheres after a deadly botched robbery sets Spielmann's taut tale in motion. The pleasures here are threefold: the intelligently constructed screenplay that never tips its hand to the viewer; the gorgeous compositions and rural locations filmed by Spielmann and cinematographer Martin Gschlacht; and, above all, the performances of the actors who ground their characters in the milieux they have found themselves in, make them human and believable, and then demonstrate that insurmountable differences are not necessarily so.

Won a number of awards including the Europa Cinemas Label, Berlin Film Festival 2008