thecelebritycafe.com: Movie Review - Revanche

The 2009 Oscar nominee from Austria is a quiet yet powerful film about culpability.

It all starts with a plan that’s supposedly foolproof: Small-time criminal Alex will rob a bank. Together with Ukrainian girlfriend Tamara who works as a prostitute, he wants to start a new life. They are planning to get out of lower-class Vienna, get away from Tamara’s pimp who tries to pressure her into becoming a private call girl, away from their debt and drug problems, away from their past.

The small bank near Alex’s grandfather’s farm seems to be a safe bet: It’s a rural, quiet area, few people, no police, no one will get hurt. But then, the plan goes awry, and nothing is as it was before…

Revanche is a quasi-film noir in the unlikely setting of Vienna and rural Lower Austria. The contrast, especially between peaceful, sunny landscapes and forests and the dark emotions that the movie evokes, is fascinating.

The movie centers around a single event, depicts its reasons and what leads up to it, as well as the sometimes unexpected impact it has on different people’s lives. It shows how a certain ripple effect is part of every day life and of seemingly mundane and random events. Every action affects a multitude of lives.

The central question of the film is culpability – who can we blame if our lives don’t go according to plan? Is there ever a single culprit or is it a multitude of circumstances that lead us into bliss or perdition?

Another issue is closely related to these questions: Is there even such a thing as revenge, when so many different things led to a certain event? When even your own actions contributed to what happened?

Revanche was nominated for an Oscar as Best Foreign Film in 2009, and deservedly so. The depicted emotions seem so raw and intense you just have to feel for the characters. And while it might be considered an arthouse film, the ever-rising tension of the story will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Revanche opens May 1 in New York, Seattle, and Boston, and will make its way around the country through July, according to distributor Criterion. Watch out for it.