Sightlines · reception

How Revanche was received

2008 · Götz Spielmann · Revanche on Sightlines

The arc

Acclaimed from the start — an Oscar nomination and a Criterion release within two years — yet it never broke out beyond the arthouse; today it's less 'reappraised' than perpetually rediscovered, the film cinephiles keep pressing on each other.

What’s debated

The perennial pitch-fight: fans insist it's one of the great modern thrillers, skeptics counter that a film this quiet and patient barely qualifies as a thriller at all.

Its footprint

Almost no pop-culture footprint — its life is entirely cinephile word-of-mouth, sustained by its Criterion Collection edition, which was a notable stamp of approval for a contemporary Austrian film.

Where it stands

A Criterion-certified hidden gem: the go-to answer when someone asks for a masterpiece nobody's seen.

Did you know? Revanche was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar the year right after Austria won the same category with The Counterfeiters — back-to-back Oscar recognition for a national cinema better known abroad for the bleak provocations of Haneke and Seidl.