About the film: Before surprising awards season with The Substance (2024), writer/director Coralie Fargeat announced herself in a major way via her debut feature REVENGE (2017) - in which a wealthy (married) man brings his young mistress to an exotic isolated location for a romantic getaway, but things are disrupted by the arrival of the man’s sleazy hunting friends… what happens from there turns into a white-knuckle, razor-sharp, subversive cat-and-mouse thriller of hypnotic beauty and bloody retribution…

2017, Rated R, 1h48m

To be clear: Revenge is not for the faint of heart, for it is gory - however, it must be stressed that writer/director Coralie Fargeat is not interested at all in some kind of gritty “realism.” Not. At. All. Instead, Revenge’s cinematic language is sleek, subversive, colorful and confident, enjoying eccentric set pieces and operatic violence (think Quentin Tarantino and Mad Max: Fury Road). Fargeat wears her influences with pride and finds "poetry in the blood” (her words). Her excitement for cinema is painted -nay, splattered!- across the entirety of this picture. Through bright colors, sound effects, music and pacing (elemental techniques Fargeat uses in full force and control) Revenge plays like a rallying call for genre enthusiasts.

This LHFF event will be hosted by Dylan Mayer and is a part of his Spotlight on [Cinema] series, aiming to bring due attention to a versatile lineup of titles and artists.

Come join for a pre-show presentation by Dylan Mayer in appreciation of Toronto’s Midnight Madness and Coralie Fargeat’s style/influences - as well as a post-screening hangout. We look forward to seeing you there.