Victoria hold my heart
What I found most enthralling about this german
film seen at the Berlinale, it was that Victoria gives off the vibe that something unfortunate
is going to happen any moment now …
Shot in real time, filmed in one continuous take of
138 minutes, VICTORIA is made all the more believable by excellent performances.
The film covers a couple of hours in the life of a young Spanish woman in Berlin who, while
leaving a club one early morning, meets four local guys.
They invite her to
hang out with them for a while, to which she agrees.
Although her adventurous
night out with them ends on an amicable note, a last-minute favour asked by the
guys alters her life forever.
The first half establishes the background of
the characters.
They stroll through the streets and the roofs of a magic Berlin.
But the second half is one nail-biting tense thriller that siderates
the spectator!
The film is not just a story of crazy love at first
sight.
And clearly
it is not just a story of an assault.
It is a film about a young woman who, lost in the
loneliness of her life, agrees to do everything she is asked for.
So that, at
least for an amount of time, she can get out of the state in which her
life is.
For anyone in a tunnel being
swallowed by darkness,
any light coming from its end is a sudden feeling of
freedom.
Its single take lasting 138 minutes might also be
the combined result of clever editing…or of seamless switching and careful masking …
…but what impressed me most is that,
despite it
being an impressive technical feat,
it never for once overshadows the unfolding
drama.
The story remains the centerpiece throughout its
runtime.
I truelly liked the two-hour long romance between
the Spanish and Sonne,
and the quick but tragic decisions they all make
in
the spur of the moment.
I kept
expecting a darker,
more disturbing film.
As it was clear that “Victoria” was
heading toward sexual assault.
But its trajectory surprised me.
Young people make really questionable decisions all the time.
This does not
mean they are bad or evil.
And "Victoria" embraces that without
judgement.
The actors are highly convincing in their given
roles.
Their work gets better as the plot progresses,
and it only helps in
further uplifting the story.
Unspooling in real time,
it feels like a day has
passed between the nighttime streets and then the dawn light over Berlin.
There's magic in that too,
which for anybody
who
has stayed up clubbing
can attest to,
and "Victoria" captures
it perfectly.
This film manages to be an emotionally rewarding
experience.
With or without the one-shot gimmick.
This German thriller is one
of the finest films of last year!
by giulia ghica dobre-jan.2017
