201. Revenge; movie review

REVENGE
Cert 18
108 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong bloody violence, gory images, sexual violence

If you cannot stand the site of blood, please turn away. There is more here than a busy day in an abattoir.
Revenge prompted me to wince several times even though I knew the blood-letting and extreme pain was fake.
Therefore, it could be argued that Coralie Fargeant's movie achieves its aim in eliciting emotion from its audience.
However, I could not work out at whom it is targeted. Is it the plastic Mac brigade who would have been entranced by Matilda Lutz in her underwear or less? Or is it feminists who want to see misogynists get their rightful comeuppance?
I can't imagine both being in the same audience.
Anyway, Lutz plays a young woman who is having rumpy pumpy with a rich married man (Kevin Janssens) until his mates (Vincent Colombe and Guillaume Bouchède) turn up for their annual desert hunt.
The drugs and drink begin to flow and she flirts with the roughnecks. This turns out to be a mistake and they end up treating her like their animal prey.
However, they make a terrible mistake of thinking that she will not fight back.
Revenge lurches from spring break for adults into a full-on horror with red stuff oozing more than any film I have seen since the Saw franchise.
But I am afraid that however ingenious its heroine might be, her prey are too dimwitted to be believed.
Indeed, by its end their stupidity was such that I realised I might be watching a comedy. Was I?


Reasons to watch: For women who feel justifiably angry with men
Reasons to avoid: Its gore is wince-inducing

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: Yes
Nudity: Yes
Overall rating: 4.5/10

Director quote - Coralie Fargeat: "The film’s message is about breaking the code of silence, where everything is done to ensure than women remain silent and victims of a social, cultural and societal organisation."

The big question - Could anyone really survive falling off a cliff like that?

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