Vio­la­tion

Rape-revenge is one of the most mis­un­der­stood and unfair­ly maligned film gen­res. The name large­ly evokes con­tro­ver­sial exploita­tion flicks of the 1970s like I Spit on Your Grave and Last House on the Left, but in fact it encom­pass­es a pletho­ra of sto­ries and approach­es. From the pet­ri­fy­ing gaze of Medusa to the grief strick­en tragedy of Promis­ing Young Woman, rape revenge is nev­er straightforward.

Dusty Mancinel­li and Madeleine Sims-Fewer’s Vio­la­tion fol­lows in the foot­steps of Promis­ing Young Woman by sub­vert­ing expec­ta­tions of the genre. These films, unlike many of their pre­de­ces­sors, opt out of depict­ing sex­u­al vio­lence, instead focussing on grief, con­flict and cathar­sis. But where Promis­ing Young Woman stops short of vio­lent ret­ri­bu­tion the con­se­quences here are almost unbear­ably barbarous.

The venge­ful woman at the cen­tre of Vio­la­tion is Miri­am (played by Sims-Few­er), who along with her surly hus­band (Obi Abili) goes to stay with her younger sis­ter Gre­ta (Anna Maguire) and broth­er-in-law Dylan (Jesse LaVer­combe). Her mar­riage is hang­ing by a thread, with thin­ly-veiled con­tempt on either side; her dynam­ic with her sis­ter, mean­while, is light­ly dys­func­tion­al, with moments of affec­tion punc­tured by breath­tak­ing­ly casu­al cruelty.

Miriam’s only healthy rela­tion­ship appears to be with child­hood friend Dylan. Their scenes of cheer­ful ban­ter stark­ly con­trast the rest of the film, the warm chem­istry between Sims-Few­er and LaVer­Combe ren­der­ing the con­se­quent tragedy all the more cru­el. Much like in Promis­ing Young Woman, it is the ​“nice guys” you let your guard around that so often prove to be the most dan­ger­ous. Vio­la­tion reminds us that real-life threats are as like­ly to crop up with one’s near­est and dear­est as they are in dim­ly-lit alleyways.

Much of Vio­la­tion is con­struct­ed to be endured rather than enjoyed. The direc­tion is unflinch­ing in the film’s dark­est moments, slow­ing to an ago­nis­ing, almost real-time pace in order to con­front the nau­se­at­ing real­i­ty of Miriam’s sit­u­a­tion. This is accent­ed by a palette of blues and greys, strip­ping every last bit of warmth from each painful moment.

Sims-Few­er shines both behind and in front of the cam­era, and her script is com­pe­tent­ly con­struct­ed – but many of her words are not entire­ly con­vinc­ing when spo­ken by the rest of the cast. Her evi­dent love of visu­al metaphors at times feels a lit­tle over­done. Long sym­bol­ic shots of preda­tors devour­ing their prey are effec­tive if slight­ly heavy-hand­ed, falling short of the Lars von Tri­er com­par­i­son they are clear­ly striv­ing for.

Vio­la­tion is avail­able to stream on Shud­der from 25 March.