Götz Spielmann's REVANCHE DVD Review
Götz Spielmann's Revanche is a rather slow but engaging film that uses a revenge plot to examine themes of love, loss, and connectedness.
Alex (Johannes Krisch) is an ex-con who works in a Vienna brothel called Cinderella. His girlfriend Tamara (Irina Potepenko) is a Hungarian immigrant who works at Cinderella as a prostitute. Tamara, who is favored by the brothel owner for a position as a high-class call girl, is deeply in debt, and Alex's prospects are equally grim. Alex devises a misguided plan to help the couple see their way through the hard times. Through a series of mistakes, Alex and Tamara encounter a police officer (Andreas Lust) whose actions change their lives forever.
Alex (Johannes Krisch) is an ex-con who works in a Vienna brothel called Cinderella. His girlfriend Tamara (Irina Potepenko) is a Hungarian immigrant who works at Cinderella as a prostitute. Tamara, who is favored by the brothel owner for a position as a high-class call girl, is deeply in debt, and Alex's prospects are equally grim. Alex devises a misguided plan to help the couple see their way through the hard times. Through a series of mistakes, Alex and Tamara encounter a police officer (Andreas Lust) whose actions change their lives forever.
Revanche can be categorized as a thriller but Götz Spielmann intentionally plays against any expectations associated with the genre. Revanche is structured like two separate films connected by a significant life event. The film clocks in at 122 minutes. Much of the first hour is dedicated to building up characters. The second hour shuffles everything around. The environment changes as the story moves from the city to the countryside. Seemingly unimportant characters emerge from the background while other significant characters completely disappear. Spielmann's approach yields a very long and logy narrative arc. Fortunately, the complex characters, beautiful cinematography, and lead performances (particularly Johannes Krisch and Ursula Strauss) compensate for the film's occasional listlessness.
The Criterion Collection DVD release of Revanche is spread across two discs. The first disc is dedicated to the feature The German language audio is in 5.1 surround. English subtitles are provided. The extras discs contains a video interview with the director, a "making of" documentary, and Spielmann's short film Foreign Land (Fremdland). Last, but not least, most of the printed booklet is taken up by an essay by Armond White.
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