A gripping thriller and a tragic drama of nearly Greek proportions, Revanche is the stunning, Oscar-nominated international breakthrough of 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. Their desperate plans for escape unexpectedly intersect with the lives of a rural cop and his seemingly content wife. 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. —The Criterion Collection
Born in Wels in 1961, grew up in Vienna. Starts writing and directing while still in school. His first film is aired on television in 1978. In 1980 he starts studying screenwriting and directing at the Vienna Film Academy. Two films completed during his studies receive international prizes and are screened at the Stadtkino, an arthouse cinema in Vienna. Spielmann graduates in 1987. Soon afterwards, he writes and directs four cinema and made-for-TV films in succession.
In 1999, after several years of silence, his next feature film The Stranger (Die Fremde) is Austria’s nomination for the Foreign Language Oscar. This is followed by Spiel im Morgengrauen, a made-for-TV movie, and in 2004 the feature Antares.
Antares is shown internationally at more than 30 festivals, and at arthouse theaters in many countries including France, the USA, and Germany. Antares is nominated by Austria to compete for the Foreign Language Oscar. Its explicit sex… read more
Good character-driven crime movie. Looks like it would be really beautiful on film. The theater I saw it at projected digitally and the quality was middling.
REVANCHE is a bona fide masterpiece. Gotz Spielmann directs with as steady a hand as Kubrick, Bergman & Antonioni. Each frame is a painting & feels fully confident, lying before us exposed to scrutiny. The scenes are precise, yet they breathe. The characters are mythic. They travel across the screen, through an environment that engulfs them, yet they endure. The drama is tense & the catharsis thoroughly fulfilling.
Lola Montès (1955) is "Max Ophüls's final masterpiece," declares Josef Braun, "mangled upon its initial release, newly restored in all its
We had the chance to talk to Revanche writer/director Götz Spielmann in anticipation of the theatrical release of his Oscar-nominated film this
Nice barks pass for bites. Revanche tops a small strand of recent movie maybe best comparable to a series of bricks: a brick wall. The style
Above: Johannes Krisch (left) and Ursula Strauss (right). Revanche shows just how successfully one can transpose the plot and character based
A very powerful, incredibly put together tale of vengeance, guilt and regret. This is a perfect example of how to make a character piece right. Each of the main characters are suffering from guilt… read review
A wonderful, surprising film. It’s a rare treat these days to genuinely not know where a film is going. Johannes Krisch is great in the lead role, one of those actors whose mere physical presence is… read review
Götz Spielmann’s Revanche is a dark allegory of the human mental fight — distinctly European; distinctly vanguard — an incisive influx of erotica, existentialism, optimism, pessimism, and, best of… read review