revanche (imdb) is an austrian film with a french-sounding name. the festival program calls it "a thriller" but i don't think it really is. and it's hard to describe without giving too much away. the title means "revenge", but even that's something of a twist that i really shouldn't talk about.
what i can say is that the first third, hell, the second scene, of the film was much more sexually explicit than i expected from a best foreign film nominee. at times gratuitously so. but that's really just part of the set-up. once the film gets going, it mostly leaves that behind. the film starts with tamara, a prostitute, and her boyfriend, alex. alex helps her flee the world of prostitution and the city only to get intertwined with the lives of a rural police officer and his wife.
in the beginning i had my doubts whether there was much to this film other than an excuse to put naked people on the screen. but once it found its stride, it was really intensely character focused and pretty compelling. ultimately the film is about dealing with loss. and i thought it dealt with that quite well.
i met glomarization on the way out. she was in line to get in to another film. just before i ran into her, another person told her that "revanche" was the worst film she had ever seen. so i guess it's not for everyone. but i really think it's a solid film if you can resist writing it off in the first third.
