Released: May 2018(USA)
Director: Coralie Fargeat
Rated R
Distributor: Shudder/Universal Pictures
Genre: Thriller
Cast:
Matilda Lutz: Jen
Kevin Janssens: Richard
Vincent Colombe: Stan
Guillaume Bouchede: Dimitri
The thriller is the kind of film that’s been around the block a few times. You could say that it goes all the way back to the thirties when thrillers and mystery movies were becoming more popular. There are multiple ways to approach the genre. One way is a slow-burn, which over the course of the film gets under your skin and makes you wonder what’s going to happen next. Another approach is the one that is generally taken by kidnap thrillers: Give it a sense of urgency by making the audience sit on the edge of their seat and have them deal with the same kind of time crunch that the characters are going through. Thrillers tend to not be completely action-packed even though there is definitely some action, but it’s kept to a minimum. Thrillers tend to deal more with character and story development than straight-up action. Within the thriller genre there are various sub-genres which include the aforementioned kidnap thriller which includes films like Taken, Ransom, and Traffik. Then you have spy thrillers that deal with spy stuff and espionage. The one sub-genre that tends to make a lot of people uncomfortable is the revenge thriller. In more specific terms, I’m referring to the rape/revenge thriller. This is the kind of sub-genre that a lot of people tend to avoid because it deals with certain topics that are very brutal. I get why people avoid them, but at the same time, these are the kind of films that tend to be very effective at what they are trying to get across to the audience. These films also tend to be associated with horror movies, and that’s….not wrong. Movies like I Spit on Your Grave and The Last House on the Left are just two prime examples of the genre which tend to blend with other genres. The film I bring to you today is one of the latest in a long, long line of revenge thrillers….Revenge.
Revenge opens as a helicopter arrives at a house in the middle of nowhere carrying Richard, a rich hunter and his current “girlfriend” Jen. As it turns out, Richard was already married, so his relationship with Jen is strictly on the….steamy side. Over the next day or so, Richard’s friends, Stan and Dimitri show up so they can all go hunting together. Unfortunately for Jen, Stan has taken a liking to her. What happens next is a brutal assault on the poor girl as she attempts to escape the house with the three of them on her heels. Left for dead, Jen struggles to pull herself together and starts planning to go after the people who hurt her. Story-wise, there is absolutely nothing here that I haven’t seen anywhere else as far as the genre goes. In fact, it kind of follows the same kind of set-up that previous films in the genre have pioneered. That’s not really a bad thing though. It keeps things simple and on a strictly “from point A to point B” basis. As a result there are no sudden twists or turns that change the flow or narrative of the film, and I have to credit first-time film director Coralie Fargeat for that.
As far as characterizations go, the three males in the film are your typical sleazy scumbags with no respect for women whatsoever, so identifying with them is pretty much impossible. The real star of the picture is Matilda Lutz as Jen. At first, her character starts off as this sort of ditzy blonde with a thing for Richard, then she ends up becoming a victim of a horrible crime to the point where she’s left for dead. After that, we begin to see the character struggle to survive and pull herself together despite her terrifying situation and the fact that she’s in the middle of nowhere. Seeing the the character progress from being a silly girl to a victim to someone that’s taking her life back is really well-done here, and Matilda is absolutely phenomenal. We sympathize with her when things start going wrong and we root for her when she decides to stop a victim and takes control. Her appearance also changes throughout the film. Her hair changes color, she gets all scuffed up and loses a lot of her clothes. Now, that would seem like a very exploitative thing for a film-maker to do, but Matilda manages to turn her character into a serious bad-ass. I really have to give credit to Matilda for willing to go through some serious physical punishment to bring this character to life.
This is a very violent movie. It’s not the most violent that I’ve ever seen, but the level of violence gets pretty graphic. It’s not super-gory, but it’s the attention to detail that gets under your skin. Some of the close-ups of the wounds that characters suffer in Revenge are sometimes cringe-inducing. That’s also because the camera tends to linger on some of these things for a little while. That’s on purpose and it really drives the point that these characters are suffering. The make-up effects are absolutely fantastic. There’s a scene in which a guy gets his foot cut up with glass which looks incredibly painful and realistic. That’s how detailed some of this stuff is. There are certain things that are not shown in great detail. The rape scene is mostly off-screen, but you can hear what’s going on and you see the aftermath. There’s a sequence towards the end of the movie that is absolutely nuts, but I won’t spoil it here.
The cinematography in this film is second to none for an indie film. There are certain details in the film that are just stunning. There’s a small scene in which an ant attempts to avoid droplets of blood, which is absolutely wild. There’s another scene that takes place in a cave where Jen takes some peyote and has a massive trip. It would seem out of place for a film of this sort, but it actually works very well for what it was intended. The sound effects are equally impressive, with certain sounds being extremely exaggerated, and the music has this semi-techno aspect about it that really gets things moving.
Overall, I have to say that I was very much impressed with how this film turned out. For a first-time film director, Coralie Fargeat knocks it out of the park and then some. The acting is pretty solid all around, but this is definitely Matilda Lutz’s show. She carries the film on her shoulders like its nobody’s business and she delivers a knock-out performance that should get her more opportunities in the future. The level of violence is striking but it’s not completely over-the-top gory. The whole package is simply one of the best thrillers that I’ve seen in years. I’m taking off half a point because I’ve seen this kind of movie several times before. That being said, the way it was put together is amazing. Should people go out and see this film? Absolutely, if you have the stomach for a movie like this. I’m really looking forward to seeing what Ms. Fargeat can come up with next, as I think she has a really bright future as a film-maker. Matilda Lutz is absolutely amazing, in case I haven’t said it enough before.
My Final Recommendation: Revenge is a dish that is best served cold. 9.5/10. Highly recommended.