First of all, bravo to Qantas Airline for carrying this film gem among their on-board entertainment selections! I never would have thought I would see this 2009 Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language film on a plane.
"Revanche" is an Austrian movie, though it could have been made anywhere else. I did not really see any scenery that made it look like Austria at all. It is basically about four people: from the city, an Ukranian prostitute Tamara (Irina Potapenko) and her thug boyfriend Alex (Johannes Krische), and in the countryside, an honest cop Robert (Andreas Lust) and his friendly wife Susanne (Ursula Strauss). Unusual circumstances intertwine and complicate the lives of these two couples in crime, death, guilt, and as the title says, revenge.
The best aspect of this film is its very well-developed script, at least for the last two-thirds of the film. The first one-third building up the relationship of Tamara and Alex was too long and slow (and even unnecessary). But when the time comes that Alex hatches his scheme to get the money they need to make their getaway, the film gains its necessary accelerating momentum to the very end.
For all its merits as a drama, this may not be a film for everyone. There are some graphic scenes and dialog as expected with a film that dealt with prostitutes. There are many slow repetitive scenes of Alex and his ailing dad, with so many scenes of Alex chopping wood or the dad playing the accordion which can test your patience to watch. As is typical with a lot of European films, the actual resolution of the entire problematic situation is left to the audience, but I felt that it was still the best way to end.
"Revanche" is an Austrian movie, though it could have been made anywhere else. I did not really see any scenery that made it look like Austria at all. It is basically about four people: from the city, an Ukranian prostitute Tamara (Irina Potapenko) and her thug boyfriend Alex (Johannes Krische), and in the countryside, an honest cop Robert (Andreas Lust) and his friendly wife Susanne (Ursula Strauss). Unusual circumstances intertwine and complicate the lives of these two couples in crime, death, guilt, and as the title says, revenge.
The best aspect of this film is its very well-developed script, at least for the last two-thirds of the film. The first one-third building up the relationship of Tamara and Alex was too long and slow (and even unnecessary). But when the time comes that Alex hatches his scheme to get the money they need to make their getaway, the film gains its necessary accelerating momentum to the very end.
For all its merits as a drama, this may not be a film for everyone. There are some graphic scenes and dialog as expected with a film that dealt with prostitutes. There are many slow repetitive scenes of Alex and his ailing dad, with so many scenes of Alex chopping wood or the dad playing the accordion which can test your patience to watch. As is typical with a lot of European films, the actual resolution of the entire problematic situation is left to the audience, but I felt that it was still the best way to end.