RevancheLife is made up of choices, and everyone has to make them. Sometimes you make the right ones, and sometimes you make choices with tragic repercussions. Revanche is a story about the choices made by two men in Austria from two very different walks of life. One man is Alex (Johannes Krisch), an underling to a manipulative pimp, an ex-con who plots a bank robbery to help his Russian girlfriend, Tamara (Irina Potapenko)--a prostitute working for Alex's boss--escape to a better life. The other man is Robert (Andreas Lust), a somewhat insecure police officer who lives in a nice house in the country. The tragic outcome of their first encounter sets Alex on the long, winding road of revenge.
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The word "revanche" is generally used to describe revenge, although it is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as: "a usually political policy designed to recover lost territory or status". What's interesting here is how status and location is representative of the conflicts of Alex and Robert. Alex lives in a rundown, dimly lit apartment in Vienna, where the shower is in the kitchen and his job mainly consists of unloading crates of drinks in the back room of a brothel. Robert and his wife, Susanne (Ursula Strauss), have just finished their resplendent home in the bright and verdant countryside. They have barbecues and Robert mows the lawn. On Sundays, Susanne goes to church, and Robert goes for a jog in the woods. There is an unspoken battle of the classes in Revanche, almost like the "serfs" and "gentry", the haves and the have-nots in the form of Alex and Robert...the "city" versus the "country". Alex is not a hardened criminal, even though he did time in prison for theft in the past. His great plan to give his love a better life is to help her out of debt by stealing from a local bank; but even as the slimy pimp Konecny (Hanno Pöschl) observes, Alex is "too soft", although his softness is his humanity. Tamara understands the severity of his proposed felony more than Alex does, and only entertains the idea following an assault in the brothel by a customer, who Alex learns was put up to "roughing up" Tamara by Konecny for turning down a job offer. And as the bank heist appears to be going according to plan, when Robert just happens to be present at the stolen getaway vehicle's location, his attempts to stop the car from fleeing the scene end in tragedy, one which haunts both Alex and Robert.
Even though Alex and Robert belong to different worlds, there are enough similarities between the two men, accentuated by their unfortunate first encounter. The gravity of their choices weigh heavy on them, and they both torture themselves as a result out of penance. Robert becomes distant from both his colleagues and his wife, and he carries a photograph taken of his victim with him as he goes jogging, pulling it out to remind himself of the result of his tragic inaccuracy. Alex hides out at the home of his grandfather, Hausner (Hannes Thanheiser), and pushes himself to extremes sawing and chopping firewood at a breakneck pace. As a mutual acquaintance and fellow member of the church, Susanne visits Hausner and tries to befriend Alex; but Alex had come to realize by chance that Susanne's husband is the same man responsible for his perceived pain, and is distant from her despite her friendly attempts. Perhaps due to her difficulties in conceiving with Robert, or due to the widening gulf between Robert and her, Susanne offers herself to Alex, and he comes to her house and they sleep together. But there is no sense that Alex has any affection for Susanne; does he do this out of revenge? Perhaps, or perhaps it affords him an opportunity to study the domain of the man he has been gradually envisioning as the object of his revenge. Alex's unresolved anger is not sated by his hard work on the farm, nor by sleeping with Susanne; his rage is a cold one, as he surveys his quarry. Would that Robert were as callous as some of his colleagues--and even his father--about the outcome of his work in the line of duty, he would not be a sympathetic character, and Revanche would simply be another commentary of the inequity of power between the rich and poor. But Robert appears to suffer just as much as Alex, and exudes pathos in the eyes of the audience, knowing that he is also made a cuckold by his wife. Alex's bravado at the safety of his plan initially portrays him as reckless, evidenced by the flippant way he handles his unloaded gun. But following the aftermath of the heist, his demeanor changes, and it is as if all the color was washed away from his view of the world, such as it was. Revanche observes a simple truth too often forgotten in days where media perception of celebrities, the poor, and other easily quantifiable demographics make people into superficial elements: that regardless of one's environment or status, each person is an individual, with different hopes, dreams, and code of ethics. Alex commits a sin in stealing from the bank--noble as his motives may potentially be--but Robert also does so in the attempt to stop it. Revanche is an elegant parable of the dangers of judging another before you know the consequences of your actions, for some choices cannot be reversed.
Recommended for: Fans of a thought-provoking human drama about coping with the sorrow which comes with unfortunate choices and how one person's transgression can weigh heavily on the soul.
Even though Alex and Robert belong to different worlds, there are enough similarities between the two men, accentuated by their unfortunate first encounter. The gravity of their choices weigh heavy on them, and they both torture themselves as a result out of penance. Robert becomes distant from both his colleagues and his wife, and he carries a photograph taken of his victim with him as he goes jogging, pulling it out to remind himself of the result of his tragic inaccuracy. Alex hides out at the home of his grandfather, Hausner (Hannes Thanheiser), and pushes himself to extremes sawing and chopping firewood at a breakneck pace. As a mutual acquaintance and fellow member of the church, Susanne visits Hausner and tries to befriend Alex; but Alex had come to realize by chance that Susanne's husband is the same man responsible for his perceived pain, and is distant from her despite her friendly attempts. Perhaps due to her difficulties in conceiving with Robert, or due to the widening gulf between Robert and her, Susanne offers herself to Alex, and he comes to her house and they sleep together. But there is no sense that Alex has any affection for Susanne; does he do this out of revenge? Perhaps, or perhaps it affords him an opportunity to study the domain of the man he has been gradually envisioning as the object of his revenge. Alex's unresolved anger is not sated by his hard work on the farm, nor by sleeping with Susanne; his rage is a cold one, as he surveys his quarry. Would that Robert were as callous as some of his colleagues--and even his father--about the outcome of his work in the line of duty, he would not be a sympathetic character, and Revanche would simply be another commentary of the inequity of power between the rich and poor. But Robert appears to suffer just as much as Alex, and exudes pathos in the eyes of the audience, knowing that he is also made a cuckold by his wife. Alex's bravado at the safety of his plan initially portrays him as reckless, evidenced by the flippant way he handles his unloaded gun. But following the aftermath of the heist, his demeanor changes, and it is as if all the color was washed away from his view of the world, such as it was. Revanche observes a simple truth too often forgotten in days where media perception of celebrities, the poor, and other easily quantifiable demographics make people into superficial elements: that regardless of one's environment or status, each person is an individual, with different hopes, dreams, and code of ethics. Alex commits a sin in stealing from the bank--noble as his motives may potentially be--but Robert also does so in the attempt to stop it. Revanche is an elegant parable of the dangers of judging another before you know the consequences of your actions, for some choices cannot be reversed.
Recommended for: Fans of a thought-provoking human drama about coping with the sorrow which comes with unfortunate choices and how one person's transgression can weigh heavily on the soul.