Directed by German director Sebastian Schipper, and shot by Sturla Brandth Gr├©vlen (Rams), Victoria is a German/English language film, shot in one continuous 138 minute take in real time. After winning awards at the Berlin Film Festival, and gaining a reputation for its daring shooting style, the film has reached a wider audience and received a strong critical reception.
Opening to Victoria, the titular character, at a night club in the early morning, the film follows her as she leaves the club and meets a small group of men, Sonne, Boxer, Blinker and Fuß. She spends some time with them in the early morning streets of Berlin before she has to leave to open up the coffee shop she works at. As we follow as a silent 6th member of the group, the film slowly begins to descend into far darker and more serious territory, as each event tumbles into the next.
The main talking point surrounding this film is clearly the long take. Some have called it gimmicky, but most have acknowledged the expert direction, planning and camerawork needed to pull off this feat in only three attempts. However rather than being a directorial gimmick, it is actually a marketing one, and because of this has no real bearing on the film itself.
The choice to film in one long take is a stylistic one. There has been a rise in fluid long take shooting styles, perhaps as there is further focus on techniques to immerse the viewer, and here SchipperÔÇÖs choice is clearly artistic. Being in one long take without any cuts or breaks in the action enables you see in real time how peopleÔÇÖs choices effect the later events in their lives, and how simple choices can have far bigger repercussions. Because of this it is also a great study of crime; its appeal, its excitement, its ecstasy and its downfall.
SchipperÔÇÖs style could be termed transcendental realism. It is hyper realistic, maintaining the charactersÔÇÖ world without breaking the illusion, only Nils FrahmÔÇÖs atmospheric soundtrack brings some respite from the intensity, allowing us out of the charactersÔÇÖ experiences for a few seconds, with enough time to look around and assess the situation. His music also brings out some of the underlying emotion of the characters and their situations that can be looked at retrospectively, emotion that may not be felt in the moment itself. Because of this the introduction of the music, which comes in and out at different stages, can feel like a shock as it breaks the realism of the experience having been so closely wrapped up in SchipperÔÇÖs narrative, but in retrospect and as the film continues, it becomes a subtle and poignant choice.
Finally, the performances of Laia Costa (Victoria), Frederick Lau (Sonne) Franz Rogowski (Boxer) Burak Yigit (Blinker), (as well Max Mauff as Fuß), are highly realistic. Considering the feat of over 2 and quarter hours of continuous acting, all actors achieve realism spectacularly, the film itself resting on these performances.
Victoria is constantly engaging and consistently tense, and appears, on retrospect, like a memory from your own experience. It is a great example of the unexplored potential of cinema and its relationship with experience.
Review by Beau Beakhouse