Revenge (2008)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
Original title revenge
Country of production Austria
original language German
Publishing year 2008
length 121 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
JMK 14
Rod
Director Götz Spielmann
script Götz Spielmann
production Prisma Film ( Heinz Stussak , Mathias Forberg ), Spielmann Film (Götz Spielmann, Sandra Bohle )
camera Martin Gschlacht
cut Karina Ressler
occupation

Revanche is an Austrian film drama from 2008. The film, directed by Götz Spielmann , has received unanimous praise from film critics and is described as his best work to date.

The world premiere of the film took place at the beginning of February 2008 at the Berlinale . The film, which received positive reviews at home and abroad, was nominated for the 2009 Oscar abroad .

action

Alex works in Vienna for the brothel owner Konecny. Tamara, a Ukrainian prostitute , also works in his brothel, Cinderella . Alex and Tamara have a secret relationship and both want to leave Vienna as soon as possible and start a new life together, but they don't have the money.

When Alex visits his grandfather, the Hausner who lives on a small farm, he decides to rob the bank in his grandfather's hometown.

Susanne, a neighbor who lives in a new single-family house on the other side of a small piece of forest, regularly visits her grandfather, keeps him company and makes sure that everything is OK. Susanne is married to the police officer Robert. The two would like to have a child. Susanne was already pregnant and they have already set up a children's room, but Susanne then lost the child. Doctors have determined that the pregnancy was a godsend, as Robert is nearly impotent. Susanne is thinking about adopting a child. But Robert refuses and continues to believe that she can get pregnant that way.

Tamara has a bad feeling about the planned bank robbery and wants to be there. While Alex is in the bank, she waits for him in the getaway car. Coincidentally, the police officer Robert comes by when Alex comes back from the bank. When Alex sees him, he masks himself again and threatens the policeman. He gets into the car and drives off with Tamara. Robert aims at the tires of the driving away car, but hits Tamara.

When Alex realizes while on the run that Tamara has been fatally hit and dies, he desperately leaves the car with her corpse, which cannot be identified by the police, in a forest. Alex goes into hiding at Hausner's. While shopping, Alex and Hausner meet Susanne, who tells Hausner about the bank robbery and that her husband was there.

Due to the loss, Alex is very withdrawn, speaks very little and spends hours every day chopping wood for the winter, where he can dump his aggression and frustration. He begins to spy on Robert, finds out where Robert regularly jogs and sneaks up to Robert and Susanne's house in the dark to watch them.

The relationship between Robert and Susanne suffers from the fact that Robert's unintentional killing of Tamara puts a lot of psychological strain on Robert, that he overloads himself with accusations of guilt and that he cannot find a way to deal with it. He has pocketed a photo of the dead Tamara that he keeps looking at. At the police station , Robert's self-allegations are not taken seriously and he is only encouraged to the extent that he only killed the accomplice of a bank robber anyway, and that he has nothing to worry about the investigation into the fatal shooting against Robert need. At home, Robert cannot or does not want to talk about the incident.

Hausner does not notice the heavy burden that is on Alex. He enjoys the unexpected company he suddenly finds, and often plays the accordion to show his cheerfulness. When she visits, Susanne wants to make friendly contact with Alex, but he reacts very negatively, which, however, hardly seems to bother Susanne. One day when Susanne visits Hausner again, Alex speaks to her and wants to drive her away from her grandfather's farm for good. She reacts relatively calmly and invites Alex over to her house with the hint that she will be alone tonight. Alex initially does not respond to her invitation, but appears in front of Susanne's patio door that evening. She immediately offers him a glass of wine. Alex confronts Susanne's cheerful, somewhat nervous flow of speech with a serious to depressed facial expression, almost wordlessly. After a while, Alex asks why Susanne wants to have sex with him. To Alex's astonishment, Susanne embarks on an almost brutal act that seems to serve Alex as an outlet for all his pent-up aggressions. Then Alex takes a shower and discovers the fully furnished children's room. He speaks to Susanne about it, but she only answers evasively. As a farewell, Susanne asks Alex if he'll be back.

The next time Alex meets Robert jogging while walking in the woods, he draws a pistol and aims at Robert, who jogs away, but doesn't pull the trigger.

While shopping, Alex meets Susanne again. She tells him that she will be alone that evening and that Alex should visit her. During this visit, Susanne asks Alex if he has a girlfriend. Alex explains that until recently he had one, but that it was murdered and that he thinks of killing the killer day and night. Susanne tells Alex that he shouldn't do that, not even think. But now she understands why Alex is so cold and takes him to bed with her.

During the night, Susanne is woken up by the noise of the engine. She hears Robert coming home and asks Alex, who is lying next to her, to leave. Weeping, Robert tells Susanne that he was declared unfit for duty and released from duty. He shows Susanne the photo of Tamara, which he always has to look at. Susanne goes to throw away the photo and notices that Alex is leaving the house.

A few days later, Alex is sitting on a bench by the forest lake and waiting for Robert. When he jogs over, he sits down next to Alex. A conversation ensues in the course of which Alex mentions the bank robbery. Robert says that the young woman's death weighed heavily on him and that he aimed at the tires. Alex asks if Robert is not afraid that the bank robber will come and shoot Robert in revenge. Robert just says resignedly "Should he calm down". Then Robert breaks up, turns around briefly and says that he would, however, still ask the bank robber why he took the woman with him in the first place. "The whole shit wouldn't have happened if the woman hadn't been sitting pointless in the car." When Robert has disappeared, Alex stands up and throws the gun into the lake.

In the evening Susanne tells her husband that she is finally pregnant.

On Sunday, Susanne wants to visit Hausner again, but only meets Alex because Hausner, who repeatedly had attacks of weakness during the film, is in the hospital. She asks Alex to end the affair and not tell Robert about it. Alex promises. Then Susanne sees a photo of Tamara lying on the table and suddenly the connections become clear to her.

background

Götz Spielmann at the presentation of revenge at the Crossing Europe Film Festival in Linz , at the end of April 2008.

Film distribution in Austria is handled by Filmladen , while the world distribution rights are held by the Cologne-based company The Match Factory . The film was funded by the Austrian Film Institute , the State of Lower Austria and within the framework of the film / television agreement .

The equipment of the film was of Maria Gruber performed, which was awarded the Femina Film Prize. Heinz Ebner was responsible for the sound . The entire film post-production was carried out at Listo in Vienna.

The film was submitted on September 1, 2008 by the Austrian Film Commission as an Austrian entry for the selection process for the Oscar in the category of best foreign language film and on January 22, 2009 as one of five by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences out of 67 submissions Films nominated. It was the third time that Austria submitted a film by Spielmann - after Die Fremde (2000) and Antares (2004). Director Götz Spielmann was not particularly surprised by the preselection, as it was "already visible" that "'Revanche' is extremely well received in the USA" . He did not think an actual nomination was impossible, but it would be close. Spielmann sees three other “really big” favorites for an award in this category : Waltz with Bashir , Die Klasse and Everlasting Moments - all of which, with the exception of the latter, are also among the nominees.

The film opened in German cinemas on February 12 and in the USA on May 1, 2009. In Switzerland, the film started on June 18, 2009. 3sat showed the film on October 26, 2010 as a broadcast on “Topic Day” on the Austrian national holiday .

Locations

Image from the location in Eisenbergeramt

Major parts of the film were shot in the Waldviertel region around Gföhl and Ottenschlag , the bank robbery in the community of Großweikersdorf. Revenge in the summer cinema in Lower Austria ( Memento from July 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive )

reception

evaluation

Going to the cinema in Austria
date Visits Copies
Evaluation 2008 17,493 -
January 25, 2009 17,768 k. A.
February 1, 2009 19,498 11
February 22, 2009 27,223 14th
March 1, 2009 30,252 k. A.
March 16, 2009 32,872 k. A.

In Austria, the film was released on May 16, 2008, where it had 17,493 visitors by the end of the year. Due to the Oscar nomination, the film has been shown again in some cinemas since January 23, 2009.

Reviews

The film was well received by critics:

“No patterns are used here, it is about forgiveness, humanity, home and inner peace. This is European cinema, realistic modern narrative cinema in its purest, most beautiful form. By dispensing with any, but really any, showmanship, director Götz Spielmann achieves the greatest effect: breathtaking tension, the greatest possible attention, images and scenes that get stuck in the head and have a long lasting effect. A great film, an impressive ensemble performance, a masterpiece. "

- Jury of the Filmkunstfest Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

"Such a clear, laconic view of social realities in connection with an exciting plot and pointed dialogues: only Austrians can do that at the moment."

- Harald Mühlbeyer, cinefacts.de

"With a dense, driving atmosphere (Hitchcock and his dramaturgical hooks are a good reference), this continuously mutating and unpredictable thriller drama from Austria - programmed in the sideline Panorama - is one of the most convincing films of this year's Berlinale to date."

- Markus Keuschnigg, Die Presse

“Impressive camera work by Martin Gschlacht, the most important cameraman for Austria's young directors, ensures simplicity and clarity, while Karina Ressler's precise editing does not allow any superfluous moments in a film that runs just over two hours. With revenge, his strongest work so far, Spielmann creates high expectations for the future. "

- Alissa Simon, Variety

“Revenge, on the other hand, is a great feature film and the highlight in the development of filmmaker Götz Spielmann so far. His story of the fates of two different couples who were shot together by a fatal shot is effectively reduced to the essentials, not only reminding of the heyday of the French quality crime novel. "

- Christoph Huber, Die Presse

"Johannes Krisch as a petty crook from the country who cannot protect his great love: a great, restrained performance by the always underestimated castle actor who, in revenge with Andreas Lust, Ursula Strauss and Hannes Thanheiser, happily finds suitable teammates and opponents."

- Claus Philipp, Der Standard

“The fact that every scene is planned and played with the utmost precision, and that every location is carefully chosen and set up, cannot be seen from the casualness of the staging and the veracity of the actors. One is almost surprised that the director lets his characters run into misery in such a disinterested way. 'My characters run into misery on their own, I just follow with the camera,' he corrects. 'I believe in life. From the outside, one always perceives pessimism in Austrian films. I am an optimistic filmmaker. ' And really: Despite all the misery presented, one comes out of 'revenge' happier than one went in. "

- Daniela Sannwald, Der Tagesspiegel

Awards

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for revenge . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , January 2009 (PDF; test number: 116 548 K).
  2. ↑ Age rating for revenge . Youth Media Commission .
  3. ↑ APA : 'Revenge' fights for an Oscar abroad . In: Der Standard , September 1, 2008 (page accessed September 4, 2008)
  4. ↑ The nominees for the 81st Academy Awards
  5. ↑ APA / dpa: Götz Spielmann's 'Revenge' on the Oscar shortlist. Der Standard, January 14, 2009 (accessed January 14, 2009)
  6. ↑ a b Revanche theatrical releases
  7. ↑ a b Austrian Film Institute : 2008 in the cinema. ( Memento of March 11, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed on February 6, 2009)
  8. ↑ a b c d Austrian Film Institute : 2009 in the cinema. ( Memento from February 20, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed on January 30, 2009)
  9. ↑ The Standard: Cinema hits in Austria. Status: 30. 01. – 01. February 02 , 2009, p. 13
  10. ↑ The Standard: Cinema hits in Austria. Status: February 20-22 February 02 , 2009, p. 28
  11. ↑ Filmkunstfest Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: Jury's statement ( Memento of the original from May 13, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.filmkunstfest-mv.de archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . May 2008 (accessed May 18, 2008)
  12. ↑ Harald Mühlbeyer: Revenge . cinefacts.de (accessed on May 18, 2008)
  13. ↑ Markus Keuschnigg: New in the cinema: stocking mask in late summer . Die Presse , February 12, 2008 (accessed May 18, 2008)
  14. ↑ Alissa Simon: Revenge ( Memento of the original from September 14, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.variety.com archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Variety , February 15, 2008 (accessed May 18, 2008)
  15. ↑ Christoph Huber: Diagonale: 'And now with the money' . Die Presse, April 6, 2008 (accessed May 18, 2008)
  16. ↑ Claus Philipp: The fruits of the crisis . Der Standard , April 7, 2008 (accessed May 18, 2008)
  17. ↑ Daniela Sannwald: Too soft for you . Der Tagesspiegel , February 10, 2008 (accessed May 18, 2008)
  18. ↑ Tromsø International Film Festival: Aurora pinches . Retrieved April 5, 2011 (Norwegian)
  19. ↑ Tromsø Internasjonale Film Festival: FIPRESCI - Den internasjonale Kritikerprisen . Retrieved April 5, 2011 (Norwegian)

Web links