Program Note
Revenge is a dish best served cold? The director, Coralie Fargeat doesn’t agree with this saying at all. Her first feature, Revenge is the punishment story of a woman paying back double passionately what she got assaulted, indomitably, like the neat title of this film. Beautiful, young woman, Jen is raped by worthless, violent men and pushed from the cliff. However, she doesn’t die and comes back to start revenge hunting. Of course, there are many strong and excellent female revenge movies with similar story line to this film, however, Revenge twists off the male-centered gaze which has stuck to revenge thriller genre like dead skin by overturning the viewpoint sharply. In the beginning of the film, Jen is just typical blonde girl who might be the first victim in typical horror films. By the time audience are deluded into thinking that Jen deserves the voyeurism to her body, a brutal rape scene which doesn’t allow any violent peeping strikes on audiences’ back of the head. At this moment, we realize which mistakes have been made by movies when they describe the violence toward women’s body. Also, it is very wise that the film doesn’t equivocate surreally the process of coming back from death’s door for Jen. When Jen loads the cartridges into the hunting gun dyeing her blonde hair dark with desert dust and engraving the wound of death on her belly, cheers will come out from the audience. Definitely, revenge is a dish best served hot like sun with a burst of blood like fountain. (PARK Hye-eun)