Coralie Fargeat’s Revenge: An Analysis from the Perspective of Feminist Counter-Cinema

This paper examines the film Revenge (2017) in the light of feminist counter-cinema or oppositional cinema. The story and plot progression of the film are based on an annual hunting trip; three wealthy middle-aged men gather in a villa in the middle of a canyon. One brings his mistress along. In a series of dramatic events, the male counterparts abuse the female protagonist, who later retaliates. This article critically analyses the narrative nature and characteristics and its acceptance or rejection of Hollywood films’ thematic and formal characteristics in the specific film. In addition, this paper investigates several research questions: 1) Can Revenge (2017), by French director Coralie Fargeat, be classified as an experimental feminist counter-cinema that challenges the ideologies expressed in any classical narrative? 2) How does the film subvert the notion of a classical film narrative nature and characteristics? The paper finds that though Revenge (2017) incorporates a feminist perspective, there are also a few counter-cinema narrative functions and a few subversions of cinematic codes and conventions through cinematic practices in the film precisely.