Alliance Française French Film Festival – Revenge

Feminist body horror doesn’t come more pronounced than Coralie Fargeat’s remarkably self-assured debut feature, Revenge, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival at the height of the Weinstein scandal and #metoo movement, and well and truly turns the ‘male gaze’ in cinema on its head.

It’s a weekend away at a desert hideaway for a group of wealthy, married and unsavoury men, although Richard (Kevin Janssens) has brought his empty-headed fling, Jen (Matilda Lutz), along for the ride. When his friends can’t control their lust, things become murderous. For these men though who’ve been used to getting away with everything, it looks as though they’ve finally met their match.

They say revenge is a dish best served cold but, in this case, Fargeat presents us with a hyper-saturated colour palette of bright sunlight, hot desert vistas and unlimited buckets of blood. Despite its ultra-violence, Revenge does not fail to mesmerise, right through to the big finale that makes all the gore so very worthwhile.