SYNOPSICS
Miss Violence (2013) is a Greek movie. Alexandros Avranas has directed this movie. Themis Panou,Reni Pittaki,Eleni Roussinou,Sissy Toumasi are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2013. Miss Violence (2013) is considered one of the best Drama movie in India and around the world.
It's Aggeliki's eleventh birthday, and a well-organised party is held in her honour. All the ingredients of a usual birthday gathering are here: a scrumptious sugar-glazed cake, cheerful music, and the warm embrace of a doting grandfather. However, is any of this real, or is this an elaborate facade? Little by little, as a devastating act of despair unfolds before Aggeliki's shocked family, wolves and lambs alike gradually find themselves lured into an elaborate web of hideous secrets, deceptive appearances, and a frantic downward spiral of lies. In the end, as the sinners' blood-curdling evildoings kept behind closed doors unravel, one can't help but plunge into the depths of the human soul, and the unfathomable secrets within.
Miss Violence (2013) Trailers
Same Director
Miss Violence (2013) Reviews
Disintegrating patriarchy: Dogtooth taken a step further
The movie can be seen as an allegory that utilizes what seems like an impossible plot to make some points about a patriarchal family system, that's ever so common in Greece (surely in other places, too). I'm Greek myself and several of the situations the characters face in the movie are very familiar to me. The father enjoys ultimate and unquestionable respect by the members of the family. The mother stays passive, her role confined mostly to everyday chores. The kids are obedient little soldiers. Any thought of rebellion is suppressed by deep fear. These are all things I've witnessed and heard of myself, from friends and relatives. I remember various incest rape cases having surfaced through the years - they still do. Avranas took his story to the extremes, to point out how rotten the institution we call the "holy Greek family" is. The apartment door is locked. To a patriarch, it doesn't matter what happens behind it, as long as it stays there. It's his family after all. What matters is his own face to society, to keep up appearances. What matters is the surface, not the substance. I've heard so many women in my life saying "Oh yes, he may beat his wife up, but at least he doesn't cheat on her!" or "He may cheat on her, but he always provides food for his family!" What is pictured in the movie is the continued victimization of the female. The woman is rendered to an object for pleasure, for cooking, for cleaning, anything to satisfy the primary male in the family. The father must be obeyed and respected at all times, even though he's an unemployed middle aged man who can't provide much to his family - and this will not be questioned either: he's the MAN. It's so deeply ironic that the song he forces his little girl to dance to is, in fact, feminist at best, and a hymn to misandry at worst (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwbYEOKzBYo). The females have learned to accept their degradation as something normal. The oldest daughter feels numb, not being able to wake up to reality. Her kids, her own brother and sister apparently, she knows will go down the same road themselves. When one of them understands the true nature of her family relationships, she commits suicide. Again, the family's priority is to save face - it was an accident, not a suicide. This attitude, so prevalent in Greece until recently, is what I believe is the director's target here. Some scenes may be hard to watch, but he didn't really cross the line that much, or as far as he could have. From the moment I realized what was going on, the story made sense on so many levels, I was really at awe with what the director accomplished: a film that's both a psychological thriller and a cold, yet in-depth cultural study.
Amazing film!
Miss Violence was the first film I've seen at this years Vancouver International Film Festival and what a fantastic film it is. There are similarities to Giorgos Lanthimos's films (Dogtooth, Alps) where you spend the first third of the film figuring out the relationships of the characters to each other and the rules of the world they live in. The rest of the film is spent either reveling in either horror or fascination in the world and characters created. This story is given to you in small pieces which build upon your understanding of who these people are. This in turn makes you a very active film-goer and creates a feeling of investment. When Miss Violence reaches it's climax I could feel the collective sighs from the 200+ people gathered to watch it at the festival. Be warned though...it is heavy, but so worth it. You'll be talking about it for awhile to come.
As the mystery unravels, the tension increases.
Of the 40 or so films I have seen so far at the Vancouver International Film Festival, this is the best. No. Wait. It is the best film I have ever seen. In the opening scene, Angeliki calmly leaves her eleventh birthday party, steps over the balcony of her family's Athens apartment and drops to her death. The reason for her suicide drives the rest of the film. Of course, your first guess is that she is being sexually abused, probably by her grandfather, the only man in a family consisting of two women, one teenage girl (besides Angeliki), a 10-year-old boy and an eight-year-old girl. But not so fast. The grandfather, brilliantly played by Themis Panou, overcomes his embarrassment over his grand-daughter's death and leads the way in helping social services uncover the dark secrets of his family. And under the skillful direction of Alexandros Avranas, who also co-wrote the script, as the secrets are revealed, so the tension increases. But suspend your suspicions until the last ten minutes -- they may surprise you. Great acting by all the cast. I am reluctant to paste the cliché "riveting' to any film. Except for this one.
Sickened but could not stop watching
**SPOILERS** I felt sickened from the start. This film was set beautifully, the sight alone of the young girls dressed similarly in white in the opening scene was enough to pre-empt the questionable family dynamics for me. And then it just kept escalating until it reached a horrific level. I keep seeing reviews that compare this to Lanthimos' Dogtooth in the way it focuses on the institution of family as well as similarities with the film's cinematic elements, such as use of silence. The main difference for me was how Miss Violence, considerably a product of the Greek 'Weird Wave', is on a completely different side of the spectrum of weird than Dogtooth. The violence and power relations aside, Dogtooth's disturbed themes were a bit absurdist and I found myself laughing uncomfortably a few times ("Mum, two little zombies!"). Miss Violence's weirdness felt less absurd and not at all laughable. The characters' had a more accurate understanding of the world and in effect it made the disturbing themes of abuse more horrific. Brilliantly directed, I couldn't stop watching this film even when it made me very uneasy as the narrative sequence had me wanting to see if all my horrible assumptions were going to be confirmed... and indeed they were exceeded in all the worst ways. I don't know if I would have watched this knowing how central the child sexual exploitation and abuse would be to the story. I don't regret watching it though and so respect the construction of suspense, tension and the representation of the family not being an ideal institution as it is commonly portrayed in general Greek culture and past cinema.
Most tragic of Greek tragedies
11-year-old girl jumps from the balcony and is killed at her birthday. Why? We finally will find out exactly why she did it, but we have to pass through hell first. Forget all the cheap scary tricks you know from common horror movies. The threat here is real. There are no surprises, no jump scenes, just constant darkness with a family tyrant as its source. Hopelessness for sure, but in an environment which is quite common. Greece performs a film wonder at the moment. Dark forces meet the surface and there's no need for the supernatural or lots of splatter and gore. There are worse things than that in daily life.