A gripping thriller and a tragic drama of nearly Greek proportions, the 2008 Revanche is the Oscar-nominated and multi-award winning international breakthrough of Austrian filmmaker Götz Spielmann.

In a ragged section of Vienna, hardened ex-con Alex (the mesmerizing Johannes Krisch) works as an assistant in a brothel, where he falls for Ukrainian hooker Tamara. Their desperate plans for escape unexpectedly intersect with the lives of a rural cop and his seemingly content wife.

With meticulous, elegant direction, Spielmann creates a tense, existential, and surprising portrait of vengeance and redemption, and a journey into the darkest forest of human nature, in which violence and beauty exist side by side.

Revanche has been announced for a US DVD and Blu-ray release by Criterion for 16th February 2009 at the SRP of $39.95 each, though as usual you'll need a multi-region or region A player if you're going to watch the Blu-ray in the UK. Featuring a new, restored high-definition digital transfer, approved by director Götz Spielmann (with DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition), both discs will have the following extras:

• New video interview with director Spielmann;
• The Making of 'Revanche', a half-hour documentary shot on the film's set;
• Foreign Land, Spielmann's award-winning student short film, with an introduction by the director;
• U.S. theatrical trailer;
• An essay by critic Michael Wood.