TIFF15 Review // Victoria

A joyous night at the clubs turns into a white-knuckle heist-gone-wrong in this one-take wonder from director Sebastian Schipper. Shot on a handheld camera in a single, seamless 140 minute take, the film puts us in the shoes of Victoria (Laia Costa), a beguiling Spanish ingénue who takes up with a quartet of Berlin bad boys led by the charming Sonne (Frederick Lau). When the boys are roped into a bank heist thanks to a prison debt owed by the violent and unpredictable Boxer (Franz Rogowski), Victoria becomes the driver and finds herself in the midst of a desperate escape. Costa gives a raw and stunning performance in the title role, while Lau provides her touching counterpoint as the sweet and tragic Sonne, loyal to his friends but too smart for their fateful endeavour. An in-your-face roller coaster not to be missed, Victoria captures the adrenalin highs and devastating lows of a few scant hours of criminal enterprise.

Capsule review, Evan Arppe