Presented in co-operation with the Goethe-Institut Irland
A starry-eyed Berlin all-nighter turns into a stomach-lurching heist scenario – and this adrenalised
epic of the heart plays out in one unfaked, uninterrupted take.
There are few films quite like Victoria, an exhilarating one-shot sensation whose Birdman-beating
logistical virtuosity is a mere fraction of its appeal. It’s akin to being dragged by your lapels
through after-hours Berlin, getting high, watching two people tumble helplessly in love, and then
being effectively kidnapped and forced to collaborate in a bank robbery.
Sebastian Schipper and his crew find a breathtaking way to keep this all of a piece: they don’t cut,
not even once, for the film’s duration. From drug-fuelled raves to rooftop reveries, bullet-strewn set
pieces, and clammy getaways as dawn looms, Victoria is an urban fairground ride full of visceral
kickback. It leaves you clinging on for dear life as surely as the cast are, trying to guess from
these heroic performances just how much of the exhaustion, euphoria, sweat and tears is entirely for
real.
Tim Robey
BFI London Film Festival
