Last week I reviewed Du Welz’ previous film, the very nice and weird “Calvaire”. “Vinyan” is more of a Hollywood production, a lot less interesting, quite disappointing even actually. After long opening titles comes an impressive dark scene which I think represents the tsunami that is the starter of the story. After this the real film begins and we follow Paul and Jeanne Bellmer whose son was swallowed by the tsunami. Especially Jeanne cannot accept the death of her son (whose body was never found), so they remain in Thailand to look for him. When Jeanne thinks she sees her son on film footage, Paul and Jeanne take an illegal route to Birma. Of course the local population takes advantage of the couple and slowly the two become crazy.
It seems as if Welz tried to do the same as he did with “Calvaire”, a film that begins ‘normal’ and becomes dark and weird. The problem is that even with Rufus Sewell and Emmanuelle Béart (both very experience actors) the acting remains unconvincing taking the whole film down. The not too interesting story and quite silly ‘scary part’ towards the end do not help. The few dark experiments are nice, but I think Welz aimed for a larger audience with “Vinyan” making it an unrecommended film for the lovers of strange films. I do not know what the Hollywood thriller audience would think of this film.