Another strong presentation from Austrian filmmaker Götz Spielmann, who has shown much promise in his previous films, Revanche is a striking psychological drama that centres on the despair of two young lovers who cannot escape their destiny.
Desperately in love, Tamara (Irina Potapenko), a Ukrainian prostitute, and Alex (Johannes Krisch), her boss's errand boy, must not reveal their secret relationship, as employees are not permitted to be romantically involved. In order to escape their red-light-district lives and fulfill their passions, Alex and Tamara devise a plan to rob a bank in a remote village. But the robbery goes wrong, and a police officer (Andreas Lust) pursues their getaway car, resulting in tragedy and bloodshed. This calamity leads Alex to take refuge at his grandfather's desolate farm at the edge of the woods. What follows is a harrowing chain of events that radically alters the lives of everyone involved in the botched robbery.
To prepare for their demanding roles, the actors spent days undercover in and around seedy brothels and police stations, learning to become their characters with selfassurance and genuine authenticity. The film's visual plan boasts similar precision, a distinct rhythm and style both to its characters and to the depiction of nature. There is a piercing clarity to Revanche, which allows Spielmann to draw his audience through the narrative, into difficult moral terrain and, finally, toward larger existential questions.
Set against Vienna's demimonde and Austria's rural landscape, Revanche is an unsentimental exploration of grief, revenge, longing and love.
Dimitri Eipides
Götz Spielmann was born in Wels and grew up in Vienna, where he studied screenwriting and directing at the Vienna Film Academy. In addition to recently writing and directing for the stage, he has directed the films Erwin and Julia (90), The Neighbour (91), This Naive Desire (93), Fear of the Idyll (94), The Stranger (99), Daybreak (01), Antares (04) and Revanche (08).