Revanche

(Austria, 2008, 121 mins)

35mm

Wisconsin Premiere

writer: Götz Spielmann
cinematographer: Martin Gschlacht
editor: Karina Ressler
sound: Heinz Ebner
sound editor: Bernhard Bamberger
costumes: Monika Buttinger
producer: Mathias Forberg, Heinz Stussak, Götz Spielmann, Sandra Bohle
line producer: Stephanie Wagner
cast: Johannes Krisch, Ursula Strauss, Andreas Lust, Irina Potapenko, Hannes Thanheiser, Hanno Pöschl

• IMDB Film Info
• www.revanche.at
• Trailer

Nominated for the 2009 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, this Austrian thriller is divided between chaotic infinity of the city and the deceptive tranquility of the woods. Reduced to prostitution in a seedy Vienna brothel, Ukranian immigrant Tamara isn’t a woman with loads of options. So when hired helper Alex offers to rescue her and flee together to a better (or at least different) life, she’s inclined to take him up on it, no matter how farfetched his plan might seem. Yes, it involves a bank robbery, but this is no simple genre picture: Tamara doesn’t have a heart of gold, and their lovers-on-the run saga gets derailed well before she and Alex can become Austria’s answer to Bonnie and Clyde. Their fates are intertwined with a parallel couple, a policeman and housewife living on the outskirts of town. As the setting moves from Vienna’s red light district to Austria’s sparsely populated countryside, the characters trade the anonymity of urban crime for the deep-seated motivations of revenge. Brilliantly constructed and exactingly lensed, this is one of the boldest Oscar nominees in any category to come along in quite some time. And if you need another endorsement, know this: Revanche is the first film to receive theatrical distribution by tastemaking DVD boutique The Criterion Collection, in conjunction with old-school titans Janus Films. “Spielman has achieved a major artistic breakthrough…it’s clear that Revanche marks something crucial to European film at this time.” — Cinema Scope. Winner, Best European Film, 2008 Berlin Film Festival; Best Foreign Language Film, 2009 Palm Springs Film Festival. Viewer discretion advised.

Sponsored By:

UW Center for European Studies

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