Writer-director Coralie Fargeat’s compelling feature debut reframes the revenge genre’s typical proclivities with a gaze that scrutinises male bodies and foregrounds its protagonist’s transformation into a hardened vehicle of vengeance. It’s a potent gambit, and one that permits its upsetting premise to assume a wry sense of humour as it careens towards a cathartic climax of outrageously bloody retribution and a rather practical use of cling film. Jen arrives at a remote desert villa with her millionaire boy toy for a weekend of romantic frivolity. Things go south quickly when her lover’s unseemly hunting pals show up and make inappropriate advances that escalate into an outright assault.
★★★★ “With her stylish and bloody rape-revenge thriller, French first-timer Coralie Fargeat turns a disputable subgenre upside down.” Variety
Debuting French writer-director Coralie Fargeat goes the full grindhouse with flair, channeling a female gaze and a wicked sense of humor into a rape payback thriller that churns a river of blood. Hollywood Reporter
This is the first a series of ongoing events at HOME that forms part of Birds’ Eye View’s new 4 film/5-city Reclaim The Frame Influencers project; a mission to bring ever-greater audiences to films by women to build a more balanced film future.
Revenge goes on general release on Fri 18 May.