Miss Violence (2013)

Miss Violence: Directed by Alexandros Avranas. With Themis Panou, Reni Pittaki, Eleni Roussinou, Sissy Toumasi. An unnerving story about a horrid family drama kept behind closed doors, and an elaborate facade where appearances can be deceiving, and nothing is as it seems.

“If I were to rename this film I would call it u0026quot;behind closed doorsu0026quot;, although thatu0026#39;s perhaps too much on the nose. Closed doors are a visual leitmotif of the film, creating an atmosphere of increasing anxiety throughout. This psychological thriller should come with multiple content warnings, despite most of its triggering elements being implicit rather than explicitly shown on screen.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eA seemingly ordinary and very well-adjusted family (the kinship relations of which are -deliberately- confusing in the first part of the film, until we understand who is who to each other) has to deal with a seemingly unexplained tragic loss of one of its younger members. As we spend more time inside the family home, observing the interactions and dynamics, we grow increasingly uneasy. The clues are everywhere from scene one, but, like in real life sometimes, we treat them with a level of disbelief u0026quot;could it be…? no way… theyu0026#39;re just our nice and polite next door neighboursu0026quot;.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAt the technical level, everything works: the performances are all just as understated as the aesthetics of the film require and totally in sync with each other, the photography, the pacing, the editing… I canu0026#39;t find a fault.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eLike others have pointed out, the influence of the Greek Weirdwave cinema is present, although the u0026quot;weirdnessu0026quot; is comparatively rather toned down, with the plainly disturbing elements being dialled up to 11. Letu0026#39;s just say itu0026#39;s not a film you watch if you want to feel better about the world.”