Revenge is a 2018 action thriller about a man who takes his mistress on an annual guys’ getaway, only to learn that not all things get lost in the desert.
There’s not much grey matter when it comes to a rape-revenge film, the movies a decades-old controversial genre of extreme violence and empowerment that has set off countless debate and criticism since its inception. In our current progressive climate, it would seem a topic to steer well clear of, as nearly all have been nothing but highly-exploitive. Yet, here comes Coralie Fargeat‘s debut film Revenge, a film that, in a woman’s hands, proves can be jarringly impactful and razor sharp, a graphic bit of stylistic madness that feels just right for the times.
Jen (Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz) is a young, attractive blonde, an English-speaking girl having an affair with her very wealthy French lover Richard (Kevin Janssens), a married man with kids. He’s taken her to a desert hideaway via helicopter, promising her a weekend of great sex in the lap of luxury. Unfortunately, his hunting pals Stan (Vincent Colombe) and Dimitri (Guillaume Bouchede) show up a couple of days early and upset their plans. All seems okay though as they spend the evening with some food and drink, loosening up Jen a bit where she does a flirty dance with Stanley, which he terribly misinterprets. The next morning, while Richard is away on an errand, he takes to brutally raping the girl when she refuses his advances, with Dimitri choosing to turn a blind eye. How does Richard deal with this when he comes home? Well, he pushes her off a cliff and leaves her for dead. Guess how well that ends up.
Blood soaked in symbolism, naturally, Jen survives the fall, being impaled on a dead tree, and from there, in the desert transforms from the slinky bikini sex doll to a ravenous desert hunter, heading out on a thirsty quest for some payback. Fargeat doesn’t skimp on the visuals, though thankfully the rape is mostly off screen. Instead, she concentrates on the violence, dishing out a chaotic tale comeuppance that is awe-inspiring in its presentation, drawn out in blood.
The men are not good people, the three of them broadly-defined stereotypes that represent much about how the predatory nature of bad men can hide in the shells of all kinds, from cut model types, to middling wannabes, to overweight sidekicks. Jen is the clear message though, a girl who has been successful in her life because of her powerful sexual allure, her body opening doors closed to all others. Her metamorphosis is painful to watch as conquering these men is not so easy, but she grows in stages, her harrowing blossom an inspiring vision stained in red mist.
What’s truly stirring about Fargeat’s film is its thundering visual and auditory style, a mix of comic book pedigree and grindhouse horror. With cinematographer Robrecht Heyvaert, we travel about the desert setting with stunning imagery that itself mutates over time as the day turns to night and back again with a new dawn. Yes, there are some obvious metaphors that are right on the nose, but even a swipe of wiper blades has significance. From neon pinks and purples at the start to dark and dusty clay reds by its end, Jen’s journey is a jarring feminist treatise that packs a wallop.
Lutz is the whole show here, embracing the trope-ish role with terrific energy, spending a lot of time alone on screen. There’s a sensational moment in a cave by a fire after a hit of peyote that serves as the film’s turning point, where Lutz and Revenge go all in, a scene that could have been nothing but a cheap shot for gore, but instead becomes a monumental moment of symbolism as she does something that would utterly defeat most. Jen is badass. Watch this movie.