Revanche (Реванш)
Revanche (Реванш) is a 2008 Austrian crime drama written and directed by Götz Spielmann, in which a botched bank robbery and a stray bullet entangle the lives of a brothel employee, his Ukrainian lover, and a rural police officer and his wife.1 The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year 2008.1
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and writer | Götz Spielmann1 |
| Country and year | Austria (AFI lists Austria, Germany), 20082 |
| Running time | 121 minutes, shot on 35 mm1 |
| Principal cast | Johannes Krisch (Alex), Irina Potapenko (Tamara), Ursula Strauss (Susanne), Andreas Lust (Robert), Hannes Thanheiser (the old man)2 |
| Key crew | Cinematography Martin Gschlacht; editing Karina Ressler; production PRISMA Film1 |
| Awards | 2009 Oscar nomination, Best Foreign Language Film; FIPRESCI Award for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year (Palm Springs); 2008 Europa Cinemas Label Award and C.I.C.A.E. Prize1 |
| Russian release | 17 December 2009, distributor Russian Reportage; total gross in Russia and the CIS 498,3923 |
Spoilers
Plot
Alex, an ex-convict working as a driver and errand man for the owner of a Vienna brothel, secretly meets Tamara, a Ukrainian woman working in the establishment, and the two are in love.4 They want to escape together, which requires money, so Alex decides to rob a bank in a small town he knows well; he reassures the apprehensive Tamara that his gun will not be loaded.4 The robbery collides with a police officer who happens to be nearby, and in the ensuing shootout Tamara is killed.4 Alex is left with a single desire, to take revenge.4
The Austrian Film Institute's synopsis adds the other half of the story: a spartan farmhouse not far from Vienna, where people also want to change their lives.1 AFI's festival synopsis identifies the officer as Robert, happily married to Susanne, with whom he has designed and built the farmhouse himself; the botched robbery and the stray bullet set the two couples on a collision course.2
Production
The film was produced by PRISMA Film- und Fernsehproduktion with Heinz Stussak and Götz Spielmann as producers, with Sandra Bohle and Mathias Forberg also credited on festival materials.1 • 2 Shooting took place from August to October 2007 in Vienna and Lower Austria, with funding from the Austrian Film Institute, Filmfonds Wien, and the state of Lower Austria; world sales were handled by The Match Factory.1 Martin Gschlacht was the director of photography and Karina Ressler the editor.1
Style and reception
AFI's festival note describes the film as beginning as a grim, melodramatic thriller in the tradition of Georges Simenon and Patricia Highsmith before moving into unexpected emotional territory, built from long, carefully composed medium shots, methodical pacing, and the absence of a musical score.2 Screen Daily's review likewise notes the move from the slums of Vienna to the Austrian countryside, praising the performances of the entire cast and Gschlacht's camera work.5
The title carries a double meaning: the literal English translation is "revenge", but the word also means a second chance.6 Academic work on the film places it among "anti-revenge" films, arguing that Revanche and Andrea Arnold's Red Road (2006) frustrate the desire for vengeance, in the protagonist and the spectator, replacing violent spectacle with an uneasy engagement that gestures toward the possibility of forgiveness.7
Release and awards
Revanche opened in Austrian cinemas on 16 May 2008, with a wider re-release on 23 January 2009, and drew 40,667 admissions in Austria.1 It screened in the World Cinema program at AFI FEST 2008.2 In 2009 it was nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year 2008, and it received the FIPRESCI Award for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year at Palm Springs; in 2008 it won the Europa Cinemas Label Award and the C.I.C.A.E. Prize of the International Confederation of Art House Cinemas.1 In Russia it was released on 17 December 2009 on two prints, earning 100,096 on its first weekend and 498,392 in total across Russia and the CIS.3
References
- Revanche, Österreichisches Filminstitut
- REVANCHE, AFI FEST 2008 World Cinema
- Фильм – РЕВАНШ, Kinobusiness
- Реванш // Revanche, Московский Международный кинофестиваль
- Revanche (2008), Screen Daily
- Revanche (2008), IMDb
- From Surveillance to Witnessing: Revanche, Red Road, and the Anti-Revenge Film
Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 2005–2009 films › Released 2008 to 2009
Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026
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