‘Violation’ Directors Explain How They Shot One of the Most Disturbing Movie Scenes of 2021 [Interview]
Posted on Tuesday, March 9th, 2021 by Jason Gorber
One of the most jarring, intense films to play at TIFF 2020 and Sundance 2021 was the revenge thriller Violation. Sure to divide audiences, the same ambivalence was shared by one of /Film’s staff critic. In his mixed review, Chris Evangelista called Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli’s work “unflinchingly brutal” yet “muddled,” while the “pervasive feeling of dread and horror is pitch-perfect” and that “there’s much here worth fixating on.”
Whether or not you feel the film sticks its landing, it’s clear that Sims-Fewer and Mancinelli are attempting something quite ambitious with their debut feature, anchored in part by Madeleine’s intense, violent portrayal of the central character Miriam on screen. In conversation with the two directors prior to the film’s Midnight Madness premiere, we asked them about the story’s complexity, how they navigated its bleak themes with a supportive cast, and how key questions about how audience expectations and desire for empathy collide with on-screen behaviour may unsettle even the most jaded of genre fans with this unflinching work.
Violation hits theaters on March 19 and the Shudder streaming service on March 25.
