The first I had heard of this was towards the end of 2017. It was getting really good reviews, and the people involved and awards it was getting at the start of the year was enough to be intrigued by this.
It has a clear three act structure, which is helped by his chapters that it shows on screen. The first two acts are certainly intense and devastating. The content is well covered with a powerful execution and when it changes location in the second act it certainly ups the ante in different ways.
As for the third act, while it manages to change its look once again, the impact did not feel as long-lasting as its previous acts. But nevertheless, it did not majorly detract the high-level of film-making.
Diane Kruger gives a top performance and was well deserving of winning Best Actress at last years Cannes Film Festival for this role. For me, she always seems to deliver in her roles and she easily carried this film. Her screen presence is of the highest quality and her multilingual skills shown in this film just enhances her talent as a brilliant actor.
On paper, it sounds like a revenge film. But it definitely does not play like a typical one. It's got a much more brutal story to it and has more heartbreaking consequences. Actually in the end, it's more a powerful drama than a genre film which is where revenge films fall under.
The visceral nature of it all prevents it from being a genre film and has those universal themes that can bring in a bigger audience. To be honest, the revenge segment was a bit generic and slowed the film down a bit. Whilst it as still solidly executed, it just did not match the same impact from the first two acts.
This is certainly worth watching as the story is well told and the performance by Kruger is brilliant.
Rating: 7/10
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