002 - Revanche, 2008, Austria; Dir. Gotz Speilmann

002 - Monday, January 2, 2017

Revanche, 2008, Austria.  Dir. Gotz Speilmann.

There is a phrase known in film circles that says "every frame a Rembrandt."  The cinematographer Andrew Laszlo wrote a book with that title.  The idea is that a viewer may pause the film at any moment and land upon a beautiful image, suitable for framing; indeed, suitable for selling at auction, hanging in museums, and being studied for centuries to come.  Of course no film achieves that standard, but ostensibly it is the goal.  However, if you watch enough movies, you may feel as though it is not the goal for many, that few even aspire to it.  It may be that only a few very special filmmakers even have the capacity to aspire to it.

The director of this film, Gotz Speilmann, has both the capacity and aspiration.  He has given us a film we want to watch for its beauty, especially in the second portion, when it arrives in the country, although in many moments earlier, in the city, as well.  There are many beautifully framed images, of landscapes, of architecture, of rooms, of people.  The colors, the shapes, the textures, the perspective--all are skillfully, even masterfully, done.  One could also call it "every frame a Vermeer"--not that he fully achieves it, but that he approaches it.

This is a story of substance.  It deals with deeper themes.  It shows real people.  Internally.  In their longings.  In their struggles.  It shows their disparate lives--urban and rural, comfortable and desperate, law-abiding and law-breaking, believing and agnostic--and how they wrestle with the same kinds of things.

It is a film for adults.  It deals frankly with adult situations.  It is honest.  These are people with hearts, with hopes and dreams, with struggles, with loss, with real emotions that might overwhelm them.

Yet it also contains an element missing from some films, one which audiences desire and to which they respond.  Grace.  Human, messy, vulnerable, aching.  And acceptance.  The potential for faith, without flinching, in the midst of dirty, soiled, broken, and heartbroken lives.  The heartache may not go away by the end of the film, but the anger begins to, and it begins a process of healing.

The opening shot gives us the theme, yet we do not know what it is until we have watched the film.  From that shot we know we are in good hands.  We look at a lake, with the trees upside-down in reflection, rippling with the water.

What comes after that, you will have to see for yourself.