Triomf
A tale of marginal madness
March 1994 South Africa. On the day of the first free election Lambert Benade will turn 21, and Uncle Treppie promises him the girl of his dreams. But, in this hilariously horrendous tragi-comedy, as a new world is born, two members of the white trash family are destined to die.
March 1994 South Africa. On the day of the first free election Lambert Benade will turn 21, and Uncle Treppie promises him the girl of his dreams. But, in this hilariously horrendous tragi-comedy, as a new world is born, two members of the white trash family are destined to die.
Based on the novel by Marlene van Niekerk
Starring: Lionel Newton, Vanessa Cooke, Obed Baloyi, Eduan van Jaarsveldt.
Festivals and Awards
Official Selection | Pusan International Film Festival
Best Actor | Tarifa Film Festival, Spain
Best South Africa Film | Durban International Film Festival
Official Selection | London Film Festival
Reviews
“Thumbs up!" - Time Magazine
“This adaptation of van Niekerk’s novel had a real success in South Africa where it was voted “Best Film of 2008”. The film illustrates the suffocation and hate that can take over when people close in on themselves, be it within a family, a community or a nation.” - L’Officiel des Spectacles, France
“This disturbing, impressively performed movie by a leading African director...” - Philip French - The Observer
“In this extraordinary film the action makes the hillbillies in ‘Deliverance’ look like milk and water.”” - Derek Malcolm - The Evening Standard
“Triomf is a clever political narrative that the African gods had the good sense to bring us now… bare-knuckle honesty, gripping, disturbing and well executed. Triomf is not for sissies.” - Sunday Times, South Africa
“Constructed like a Greek tragedy with irreversible destinies, incest, uncontrollable passions and a family on the point of implosion, the film becomes a metaphor for the history of South Africa. The picturesque humanity caught within this pressure cooker is touching, and evokes the world of Carson McCullers, Flan O’Connor.»” - Philip French - The Observer
“In this extraordinary film the action makes the hillbillies in ‘Deliverance’ look like milk and water.”” - Paris Match
“A punk movie ! … the tragedy of a slice of marginal humanity that hates hating, despises itself for despising, and finds no other solution to this vicious circle than racism and repression.” - Humanité, France
Credits
Production - Giraffe Creations (South Africa) & GH Films (France)
Director: Michael Raeburn
Writer: Michael Raeburn, Malcolm Kohll
Producer: Michael Raeburn, Lyndon Plant
Camera: Jamie Ramsay
Designer: Tiaan van Tonder
Sound: José Baptista
Editor: Marie Quinton
Music: Philip Miller
In five days the first South African democratic elections will take place, after which there will be majority rule under a black governement. Tensions are high throughout the land, and no less so in Triomf, the poor white suburb of Johannesburg that was built on the ruins of the black community of Sophiatown.
The Benade family, who’d be considered hillbillies or white trash in the USA (Uncle Treppie fixes fridges, Pop’s a railway pensioner, his wife Mol sells flowers in the street, and their son, Lambert, is a slow-witted youth prone to violent fits) are so worried about the elections that they’re prepared for an escape north ‘when the shit hits the fan!’ Already things are not what they used to be in Triomf with half-caste neighbours having rowdy barbecues, and there’s a black family moving in. While, Sonny, who is an acquaintance of Lambert Benade, is waiting in the street to take back his stolen family land upon which the Benade house now stands! The action of the film revolves around Sonny, as well as around the dynamics within the Benade family. These are highly-strung, often horrendous and consistently hilarious.
It is the interaction between Uncle Treppie and the young Lambert that is the driving force behind the story. Treppie’s not just fed up with Lambert, but with the family’s poverty, their suffocating social isolation, and everything they stand for including their own history as Afrikaners, which he sees as clouded by lies and pretence. Treppie doesn’t really know what the solution to all this is, but the new South Africa is on its way, and he wants drastic change.
Co-incidence would have it that Lambert’s 21st birthday is on the first day of voting, and Uncle Treppie plans a special present for him: a meeting with a nice girl he’s met who might find a soft spot for Lambert. What Treppie really wants is to get Lambert out of the house and out of his life at any price. The action of the film revolves around Sonny, as well as around the dynamics within the Benade family. These are highly-strung, often horrendous and consistently hilarious.
The climax is truly explosive after Lambert discovers that his prospective girlfriend is a whore, and after Treppie, in his mad desperation, reveals a dark ‘family secret’. But in the end it will be Lambert and his black friend Sonny who triumph over Treppie.