Autumn Blood
Director: Markus Blunder
Writer: Stephen T. Barton, Markus Blunder
Cast: Sophie Lowe, Peter Stormare, Maximilian Harnisch, Annica McCrudden, Gustaf Skarsgård, Samuel Vauramo, Tim Morten Uhlenbrock
Seen on: 15.3.2015
[Screener Review.]

[Trigger Warning: Rape.]

Plot:
A remote mountain village. An even more remote farm. Here, a girl (Sophie Lowe) and her little brother (Maximilian Harnisch) live with their ill mother (Jacqueline Le Saunier) rather innocently – but only until their mother finally succumbs to her sickness. The children decide to keep the death to themselves, so that they don’t have to leave their home, even though the girl has barely left childhood behind herself. But that is no obstacle for the Hunter (Samuel Vauramo) who brutally rapes her – and then even returns with the Butcher (Gustaf Skarsgård) and a friend (Tim Morten Uhlenbrock).

Autumn Blood has “concept film” stamped on it in big letters and it worked better as a concept than an actual film. It did have great cinematography, though.

I think what Blunder was going for with this film was to tell an archetypal story. One, where you don’t need names, or dialogue to convey what the story is about. But it is only a short step from archetypal to stereotypical and the film is closer to the latter than the former. Although I generally liked the idea of not having dialogue in the film. So much so that the five or so sentences that were spoken almost bothered me. In particular because they were so inane that one could have done perfectly without them and in English to boot.

I was also not too taken with the way things ended. I would have preferred it if the Girl had actually gotten in a few (figurative) punches, if she had a more substantive role in her own defense. But in the end she is saved by a man and not herself. (Also I must have been absent for a bit because I still don’t know how she lost her clothes during the showdown. She was just suddenly naked.)

The way the rape scene(s) were shot was very well done, with a focus on her face and her pain, and no glossing over or making sexy (as often happens in  Hollywood rape scenes). Generally the camera work was really nice and most of the images could be used directly in an Austrian tourism campaign, no problem.

But the film did feel longer than it should have, which made itself felt in particular during the showdown – that should have been the most exciting part but ended up just feeling boring. it it had been a little shorter, I probably would have liked it much better.

Summarizing: It’s okay, but not great.