Revanche (2008) review

Four lives intertwined: former convict Alex (an excellent Johannes Krisch) wants to save his Ukrainian girlfriend (Irina Potapenko) from her pimp, so the two of them work together on robbing a bank; upon leaving the bank, a police officer (Andreas Lust) shoots the prostitute, becomes riddled with guilt, neglects his wife (Ursula Strauss), who runs into the arms of ... Alex. Though entirely too neat and methodical to be truly great - Spielmann fails to allow any real 'chance' occurrences in this, with all scenes having some essential point to them - this is nevertheless a must-see picture, with top-notch performances and an intelligent story. The pacing and focus on issues of morality remind me of the work of fellow Austrian Michael Haneke, except this is much more middlebrow.