Revanche

The Austian film Revanche made a big splash in 2008, and was even nominated for an Academy Award. In 2010 it got the criterion treatment, and usually I dislike it when Criterion releases new films (cough: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) but it really helped the overall image. Most of the allure to Revanche derives itself from the meaning behind what is said. The film explores a succession of events that inevitability intertwine and mulls them over within each character so poignantly. The characters react with such calm the idyllic setting further perpetuates the dissection of meaning that distances itself from typical question of mortality. Revanche is a film so rigorously dedicated to endearingly flawed characters that the seemingly flawless countryside accentuated through the cinematography prove to be that much more captivating.