Jump to content

Revanche (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 69.122.187.198 (talk) at 05:51, 8 August 2011. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revanche
Directed byGötz Spielmann
Written byGötz Spielmann
Produced byPrisma Film (Heinz Stussak, Mathias Forberg) Spielmann Film (Götz Spielmann, Sandra Bohle)
StarringJohannes Krisch
Irina Potapenko
Ursula Strauss
Hanno Pöschl
CinematographyMartin Gschlacht
Edited byKarina Ressler
Distributed byFilmladen
Release date
16 May 2008 (2008-05-16)
Running time
121 minutes
CountryAustria
LanguagesGerman
Austrian dialect
Russian

Revanche is a 2008 Austrian film written and directed by Götz Spielmann. It stars Johannes Krisch as a man robbed of his purpose and deadened by thoughts of revenge in the wake of a crime that was to grant his girlfriend and him a new life.

The film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2008. It received critical acclaim and won a number of awards, and was nominated for the 2009 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Plot

Alex works in Vienna for Konecny, owner of the brothel "Cinderella", where Tamara, a Ukrainian prostitute, also works. Alex and Tamara have a secret relationship, and want to leave Vienna as soon as possible to begin a new life together, for which they need money. While visiting his grandfather, Hausner, who lives on a smallholding in the country, Alex decides to rob the local bank.

Hausner has a neighbour, Susanne, who lives nearby, and visits him regularly to keep him company and to make sure that he is all right. She is married to Robert, a policeman. They want a child, but although Susanne was pregnant, she lost the baby. They have a nursery all ready in their house, but are unable to conceive a second time, because of Robert's fertility problems. Susanne would like to adopt, but Robert refuses to accept that there is any difficulty in his fathering other children, and will not consider adoption. Consequently, their relationship is suffering.

Tamara has a bad feeling about the planned bank robbery, and insists on being present: while Alex is in the bank, Tamara waits for him in the getaway car. By chance, Robert is passing the bank at the moment when Alex, wearing a mask, is leaving it. Alex threatens him with his gun, jumps into the car and drives off. Robert shoots at the tires of the car as it speeds away but instead hits Tamara.

When Alex realises that Tamara has been fatally wounded and has died, in despair he abandons the car and Tamara's body in the wood and makes his way to Hausner's, where he hides out. His loss makes him very withdrawn; he scarcely speaks, and spends hours every day chopping wood for the winter, in which he finds some relief for his pent-up aggression and frustration. His grandfather apparently notices nothing of Alex's heavy burden: he simply seems happy to have some company unexpectedly, and plays the accordion a great deal.

Robert and Susanne's relationship is now under still further strain because Robert's unintentional killing of Tamara is causing him great mental anguish: he blames himself for it and can find no way to deal with the guilt. He carries Tamara's photo round with him, and looks at it constantly. His colleagues at the police station are no help: they refuse to take his concerns seriously, and try to encourage him by telling him that he has only killed a bank robber's accomplice, and that in the forthcoming official enquiry into the death he has nothing to worry about. At home he is unable or unwilling to discuss the matter at all.

While they are shopping Alex and Hausner meet Susanne, who tells them about the bank robbery and that it was her husband who shot at the car. This has an effect on Alex. On her visits to Hausner, Alex has scarcely reacted at all to the extremely talkative Susanne and, when he does, is very dismissive, although this has apparently not bothered her. Under cover of darkness, he now starts to spy on the couple in their house and to follow Robert when he goes jogging in the woods.

During one of her visits to Hausner, Alex speaks to Susanne and tries to chase her off his grandfather's farm. This seems not to trouble her: she invites him to her house, with a hint that she will be alone that evening. Alex appears not to react to the invitation but that evening suddenly turns up at her terrace door and startles her, until she realises that it is "only Alex." She offers him a glass of wine. While Susanne talks brightly but nervously in an uninterrupted stream, Alex looks depressed and is almost silent. After a while he asks her why she wants to have sex with him. To his astonishment Susanne participates willingly in an almost brutal sex act, which seems to offer Alex a vent for his accumulated aggression. When he goes to take a shower he sees the nursery, but when he asks Susanne about it, she refuses to discuss it. As he is leaving she asks if he wants to come again.

The next time Alex sees Robert jogging in the woods, he draws his gun and aims it at Robert's back, but does not fire it.

Alex meets Susanne again while shopping. She tells him that she will be alone again that evening and that she wants him to visit her, which he does. She asks him whether he has a girlfriend, and he tells her that until recently he used to have, but that she was murdered, and that now he thinks day and night about killing the murderer. Susanne protests that he cannot do that, and must not even think about doing that. But she understands now why Alex is so cold, and takes him to bed.

In the night Susanne is wakened by the sound of a car engine. She hears that Robert has come home, and urges Alex, lying next to her, to go. Robert, crying, tells Susanne that he has been declared unfit for duty and suspended from the police force. He shows her Tamara's photo, that he is unable to stop looking at. Susanne goes to throw it away, and while she is doing so, sees Alex leaving the house.

Some days later Alex is sitting on a bench by the lake in the woods and waiting for Robert. He jogs past, and sits on the bench with Alex. In the course of their conversation the subject of the bank robbery arises. Robert tells how the death of the young woman has preyed on his mind, and how he was aiming to shoot the tires. Alex asks if Robert is not afraid that the robber will come and shoot him, out of revenge. Robert's only comment is a resigned "He's welcome to."[1] He gets up to leave but pauses to add that he would like to ask the bankrobber why he took the woman with him in the first place: "the whole mess wouldn't have happened if the woman hadn't been in that car without any reason."[2] When Robert is out of sight, Alex throws the gun into the lake.

That evening Susanne tells her husband that at last she is pregnant.

On Sunday Susanne calls again to visit Hausner, but he is in hospital and only Alex is at home. She asks him to consider their affair at an end, and not to tell her husband about it, and Alex promises this. Susanne then sees a photo of Tamara on the table, and in a moment of insight the connections suddenly become clear to her.

Background

Götz Spielmann at the presentation of Revanche at the Crossing Europe film festival in Linz, late April 2008

Film distribution in Austria is by Filmladen, while the world rights are held by The Match Factory, Cologne. The film was promoted by the Austrian Film Institute (Österreichisches Filminstitut) and the state of Lower Austria.

Production design was by Maria Gruber, who won the Femina Film Prize for it. Heinz Ebner was responsible for the sound. Film production was carried out entirely by the company Listo in Vienna.

The film was submitted on 1 September 2008 by the Austrian Film Commission as the Austrian entry for selection for the Oscars in the Best Foreign-Language Film category, and on 22 January 2009 was nominated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences out of 67 entries as one of five films.[3][4] This was the third time that Austria had submitted a film by Spielmann: the first two were Die Fremde (2000) and Antares (2004). Director Götz Spielmann did not appear especially surprised at film being short-listed, as it was "already obvious"[5] that "'Revanche' will be unusually well received in the USA".[6] He did not think an actual nomination impossible, but it would be a close-run thing. Spielmann saw three other favorites for distinction in this category–Waltz with Bashir, The Class and Everlasting Moments–which apart from the last were also among the nominees.[7]

The film opened on 12 February 2009 in German cinemas and was subsequently released at different times in various European countries and the United States over the following months.[8]

Filming locations

Large parts of the film were shot in the area round Gföhl and Ottenschlag in the Waldviertel.[9]

Critical reception

Following the world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival 2008 the film had excellent reviews around the world and received several awards. Variety's Alissa Simon noted:

Elegantly spinning primal elements of guilt, revenge, faith and redemption, helmer's gripping fifth feature is prime fest material that's likely to rate Euro arthouse exposure, with further viewers in ancillary. (...) Stillness and sounds of nature play a key role in creating pic's intense atmosphere. (...) Asking the question, "Whose fault is it if life doesn't go your way?," the cleverly constructed script introduces some fresh and surprising twists and turns. (...) Impressive lensing from Martin Gschlacht, the key cinematographer for Austria's young helmers, provides simplicity and clarity, while concise cutting by Karina Ressler allows no gratuitous moments in a pic that clocks in at just over two hours. With 'Revanche' his strongest work yet, Spielmann creates high expectations for the future."[10]

In January 2009 it was announced that Revanche was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.[11]

Revanche was placed at 90 on Slant Magazine's best films of the 2000s.[12]

Awards

Revanche won further awards at smaller film festivals: at the Filmkunstfest 2008 in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Fliegender Ochse as best feature film), at the Monterrey International Film Festival 2008 (Best Screenplay and Audience Award), at the Fünf Seen Filmfestival in Starnberg (First Prize Star 2008), and at the International Filmfestival Motovun (From A to A-Award).

References

  1. ^ „Soll er ruhig“.
  2. ^ „Die ganze Scheiße wäre nicht passiert, wenn die Frau nicht sinnlos im Auto gesessen wäre“.
  3. ^ APA: ‚Revanche‘ ringt um Auslands-Oscar. In: Der Standard, 1 September 2008 (retrieved 4 September 2008)
  4. ^ Nominees of the 81st Academy Awards
  5. ^ "schon sichtbar"
  6. ^ "in den USA ausgesprochen gut aufgenommen wird"
  7. ^ APA/dpa: Götz Spielmanns ‚Revanche‘ auf der Oscar-Shortlist. Der Standard, 14 January 2009 (retrieved on 14 January 2009)
  8. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1173745/releaseinfo
  9. ^ http://www.sommerkinoe.at/?ki=st20080615125529
  10. ^ Variety.com: review
  11. ^ Nominees & Winners the 81st Academy Awards
  12. ^ "Best of the Aughts: Film". Slant Magazine. Retrieved February 10, 2010.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Revanche_(film)&oldid=443630457"