Revanche

Goetz Spielmann's Revanche is one terrific film. It got a well deserved Oscar nomination in the best foreign film category. It is a marvelous character study and is also very suspenseful. Oh, and I should add that it is quite sexy.

Alex (Johannes Krisch) and Tamara (Irina Potapenko) have a thing for each other. But it is not easy for them to have a relationship. They both work for Konecy (Hanno Poschi). He owns a brothel and Tamara is one of his prostitutes. Alex, who has been in jail, and does menial work for his boss. Both Alex and Tamara have financial problems. But Alex has a solution - rob a bank. At first Tamara doesn't want to have anything to do with it. But eventually she goes along with it. And that is all I will say about the plot. Why should I spoil things for you.

Other characters figuring heavily into the story are Alex's elderly grandfather (Johannes Thanheiser) who lives in the country and a couple Robert (Andreas Lust) and Susanne (Ursula Strauss) who live nearby.

Spielmann has created s film that has a lot of tension. I was on the edge of my seat and I couldn't wait to find out what would happen. The acting is all around terrific with Krisch giving a particularly intense performance. I want to see more of him. Thanheiser was very moving in his role and Strauss hit all the right notes.

I found the ending very satisfying. I can only imagine how the film would have ended if it was a Hollywood. Let's hope that they never remake this film in Hollywood style.

I higly recommend Revanche and it you can't see it in the theater (it is in very limited relase) then see it on DVD when it comes out.