Revanche

At once a gripping thriller and a tragic drama of nearly Greek proportions, Revanche is the stunning, Oscar–nominated, international breakthrough film from Austrian filmmaker Götz Spielmann. In a ragged section of Vienna, hardened ex-con Alex (the mesmerizing Johannes Krisch) works as an assistant in a brothel, where he falls for Ukrainian hooker Tamara (Irina Potapenko). Their desperate plans for escape unexpectedly intersect with the lives of a rural cop (Andreas Lust) and his seemingly content wife (Ursula Strauss). With meticulous, elegant direction, Spielmann creates a tense, existential, and surprising portrait of vengeance and redemption, and a journey into the darkest forest of human nature, in which violence and beauty exist side by side.

Austria's 2009 Academy Awards official submission to Foreign Language Film category.

"THREE AND-A-HALF STARS - Revanche was a foreign-language Oscar nominee this year, and it's a better movie than most of the films in the main race ... There's a moral beauty in the film's consideration of violence and vengeance." -- Wesley Morris, The Boston Globe

"A revenge thriller driven by God, goodness and mercy." -- Ella Taylor, National Public Radio

"Revanche is life affirming without a moment of false sentiment ... Spielmann avoids superficial suspense, offering beauty and concentration, to revive what cinema is really about." -- Armond White, The New York Press

"A film that simmers within you days after viewing ... as restrained as it is ravishing." -- Jeff Meyers, Detroit Metro Times

"Nothing short of revelatory, a non-dogmatic and warmly humanist morality tale, a weirdly funny character study, and a revenge tale that’s oddly, breathtakingly soft." -- Leo Goldsmith, indieWIRE

"FOUR STARS - Spielmann brings a Haneke-like precision to Revanche ... [Its] surprises are a shame to ruin." -- Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York

“A thing of sheer beauty ... The details of each individual scene - composition, rhythm, performances, stray bits of business - are all so perfectly judged that their cumulative force kind of sneaks up on you.” -- Mike D’Angelo, The Man Who Viewed Too Much

“Subtle, poignant and thoroughly captivating ... Masterfully and subtly, Spielmann puts on the screen all the emotion that can ripple just beneath the surface of lives and personalities, near and felt, but unseen and out of reach.” -- Valerie Crawford Pfannhauser, The Vienna Review

"Impressive ... Spielmann may be the first director since Tarkovsky so attuned to the role environments play in a narrative." -- Sam C. Mac, In Review Online

“A haunting parable of crime and punishment, redemption and revenge.” -- Peter Keough, FIPRESCI

"Darkly compelling ... Its carefully plotted, convincing scenario will leave you with a lot on your mind." -- Kenneth Turan, The Los Angeles Times

"Deserves comparison with grade-A Hitchcock." -- John Hartl, The Seattle Times

"Directed with terrific control and economy of means ... Revanche gets its hooks into you early and leaves them there." -- Scott Foundas, The Village Voice

"Recalls a sort of filmmaking out of vogue since Bresson and Kieslowski - a cinema of moral consequence." -- Brian Miller, The Seattle Weekly

"Something quiet, complex and unexpected ... a moral tragi-tale sans heroes and villains." -- Henry Stewart, The L Magazine

"From the moral and emotional intensity expressed so eloquently in Revanche, Mr. Spielmann seems to be an auteur of the first rank."
-- Andrew Sarris, The New York Observer

“A superb existential thriller that haunts you long after you’ve left the theater ... Avoiding cheap sentimentality and one of those scores that pushes buttons, Spielmann’s set piece will draw you in.” -- Yama Rahimi, IONCINEMA.com

"FOUR STARS - Spellbinding ... One of the best films to come out of Austria this decade." -- Chris Cabin, contactmusic.com

"With this film, it can be confidently said that Austria’s greatest director isn’t Michael Haneke, but Götz Spielmann, who’s made a stunning work that ideally balances powerful drama, ingenious storytelling, precise casting and pure cinema." -- Robert Koehler, filmjourney.org

"Beautiful, haunting, and touching ... a heartbreaking film where revenge is sought, but a second chance is the real prize." -- David Harris, Spectrum Culture

“[A] gorgeous, brooding, unpredictable neo-noir ... it’s dynamite.”
-- Andrew O’Hehir, Salon.com

"Revanche is the kind of taut, thinking-adult's drama that America stopped producing 30 years ago.” -- Darren Hughes, longpauses.com