Revenge **** (2017, Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz, Kevin Janssens, Vincent Colombe) – Movie Review

Coralie Fargeat’s full-on feminist French thriller Revenge (2017) is stonkingly intense, exciting and brilliantly shot (by Robrecht Heyvaert), with an interesting, playfully post-modern take on the war between men and women. There is more flesh and blood on the screen than in any movie for ages and ages!

The admirable Matilda Lutz stars as Jen and she really seems to be enjoying taking her revenge on men. Kevin Janssens is excellent as the main villain Richard and Vincent Colombe is brilliantly oily as his leering henchman Stan.

I loved the no man’s land desert setting, filmed in Morocco, which is strikingly well used.

Matilda Lutz stars as gun-toting heroine Jen in Revenge (2017).

It is a highly impressive feature debut for writer-director Coralie Fargeat, who really gets into her man-hating theme big time! She truly makes you enjoy seeing the men get their comeuppance. It is a pity about the implausible plot developments, but you can’t have everything and no one’s perfect, and this is an exhilarating revenge ride, proving that revenge is a dish that can be served boiling hot after all.

It is adult movie-making with an R rating for strong bloody gruesome violence, a rape, sexuality, graphic nudity, drug use and strong language. Fargeat claims the film shows so much gore that the props team often ran out of fake blood.

Revenge is directed by Coralie Fargeat, runs 108 minutes, is written by Coralie Fargeat, is shot by Robrecht Heyvaert, is produced by Marc-Etienne Schwartz and Marc Stanimirovic, is scored by Robin Coudert, and is made by M.E.S. Productions, Monkey Pack Films, and Charades, and is distributed by Neon (US) and Vertigo Releasing (UK).

© Derek Winnert 2018 Movie Review

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Antwerp-born Kevin Janssens (born 1979) plays the villain in Revenge (2017).