''Miss Violence'' is a 2013 Greek

psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a genre combining the thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting. In terms of context and co ...

film directed by

Alexandros Avranas Alexandros Avranas (born 1977) is a Greek film director best known for such films as '' Miss Violence'' and '' Dark Crimes'' starring Jim Carrey. At the 2013 Venice Film Festival Avranas won the Silver Lion The Silver Lion ( it, Leone d'arg ...

. The film was nominated upon its release for 8

Hellenic Film Academy Awards Hellenic is a synonym for Greek. It means either: *of or pertaining to the Hellenic Republic (modern Greece) or Greek people (Hellenes, el, Έλληνες) and culture *of or pertaining to ancient Greece, ancient Greek people, culture and civili ...

, winning 2: for Best Actor (Themis Panou) and Best Supporting Actress (Renni Pittaki). It also won the Aluminum Horse for Best Script at the

Stockholm International Film Festival The Stockholm International Film Festival ( sv, Stockholms filmfestival, italic=no) is an annual film festival held in Stockholm, Sweden. It was launched in 1990 and has been held every year since then during the second half of November. The w ...

Plot

On her eleventh birthday, Angeliki commits suicide by jumping off the balcony of her family's apartment. The incident thoroughly affects the family members, who inform the police to investigate the event. The police in response, tells them that Angeliki may had suffered from a domestic trauma that led her to this action. All the children behave uncomfortably when the patriarch is present, who attempts to bring back

normalcy "Return to normalcy" was a campaign slogan used by Warren G. Harding during the 1920 United States presidential election. Harding would go on to win the election with 60.4% of the popular vote. 1920 election In a speech delivered on May 14, 19 ...

to the family following the incident, but that normalcy seems to hide constant

oppression Oppression is malicious or unjust treatment or exercise of power, often under the guise of governmental authority or cultural opprobrium. Oppression may be overt or covert, depending on how it is practiced. Oppression refers to discrimination w ...

of the children. One of the children, fourteen-year-old Myrto, tries to reach out to her teacher, but that doesn't lead anywhere. Instead, the patriarch forces all the daughters to dabble in

prostitution Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...

. The secrets behind Angeliki's suicide are gradually revealed. Angeliki ended her life because Myrto had told her that eleven is considered by their patriarch as the appropriate age to commence

sexual violence Sexual violence is any sexual act or attempt to obtain a sexual act by violence or coercion, act to traffic a person, or act directed against a person's sexuality, regardless of the relationship to the victim.World Health Organization., World re ...

towards her. This is what he did to her, and Eleni (their mother), all at the age of eleven. When the matriarch finds out the truth, she kills her husband. Eleni discovers the father's body the day after. She rejoices, since for her, her sister and children, this represents the end of their abuse. Once in the kitchen, however, she finds her mother, who orders her to lock the door, implying that the nightmare will continue.

Cast

* Themis Panou as Father * Reni Pittaki as Mother * Eleni Roussinou as Eleni * Sissy Toumasi as Myrto * Rafika Chawishe as Civil status servant *

Christos Loulis Chris Loulis ( el, Χρήστος Λούλης) (born April 10, 1976) is a Greek film, television and stage actor. He took part at the 2004 Summer Olympics opening ceremony The opening ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympics was held on August 1 ...

Reception

''Miss Violence'' entered the competition at the

70th Venice International Film Festival The 70th annual Venice International Film Festival took place in Venice, Italy from 28 August to 7 September 2013. American film director William Friedkin was presented with a lifetime achievement award. Italian film director Bernardo Bertolucc ...

. Avranas won the

Silver Lion The Silver Lion ( it, Leone d'argento, also known as Silver Lion for Best Direction) is an annual award presented for best directing achievements in a feature film at official competition section of the Venice Film Festival since 1998. The pri ...

for Best Director and actor Themis Panou won the

Volpi Cup The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...

for Best Actor. It was also shown at the 2013 Toronto Film Festival. It is a Faliro House Productions and Plays2place Productions film.

Critical response

The film received mostly positive reviews and was selected for the Fedeora prize for the best film from the Mediterranean region, while Greek director Alexandros Avranas was given the Silver Lion for Best Director for his work. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, ''Miss Violence'' holds an

approval rating An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll (although strictly a poll is an actual election) is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions ...

81%, with an

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

score of 6.10. The website hosts 21 international critic reviews.

References

External links

Arca Cinema Giovani (Young Cinema Award)
* *
Newspaper article and trailer, 6 September 2013

Naftemporiki

E-go.gr
2013 films Films about child abuse Greek thriller drama films Films shot in Athens {{Greece-film-stub