Vinyan

[anyother]

How optimistic Joyce....but I think you're right. Can't think of a happy ending either - and yours is at least a better one.

[bastognegirl]

Hi everyone, I finally watched Vinyan yesterday evening...everyone out of the house, just me, myself and I...the perfect setting for a Rufus night as you all will agree

Movie started and look : there was one of the most beautiful shots of Rufus I have ever seen! There he stood in all his masculinity, sexier than ever, his sweet green eyes...watching his wife come out of the water. Darn I thought, this is promising and I was dragged in. A bit later came the famous screenshot over which I became obsessed a few weeks ago (see rufussewell.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=other&action=display&thread=1977 )
and I was starting to feel a bit proud that this movie was made by a Belgian director ;D that Du Welz sure knows how to film Rufus in a sexy way!

Then I was dragged into the story completely...I found it not a horror movie at all, it is more a dark and psychological drama which sticks to you after watching it and makes you reflect.
Well in fact I loved it and after it was finished I started the movie immediately back again...unfortunately a half hour later everyone came home again, which also meant the end of mum's night out with Rufus.
So today, reflecting on the movie again and after reading the 12 pages of posts here (I had deliberately avoided that before watching) I count now Paul Bellmer as one of my favourite Rufus-characters: what a sweet caring man he his...how incredibily far he goes just to please his insane wife (I didn't feel for her at all)...I only felt for him and wanted to take him in my arms all the time. So sad to see him die so horrible in the end...somewhere I had hoped for another ending, a good ending where his wife finally comes to her senses and they return home safely.
Alas, the ending was fatal for my beloved Paul
But it's only film of course and this morning while going through this topic I'm glad I came across the You Tube video in which we see how the final horror scene was filmed and how much fun Rufus had while filming it

As you can probably notice my attack of Rufusitis is still not over...in fact it again got worse after seeing Vinyan.
(The recent arrival of the Zen dvd's don't help much either )

Oh still forgot to say that I "underwent" the bare bum scene like a big girl....oh dear oh dear, how would I have liked to be in Emmanuelle Beart's place! I'd have needed 20 retakes at least
HER final scene on the other hand, with all those boys hands going all over her body...no thanks, I think I'd needed a body double for that

[GreenEyesToo]

Setting aside the subject material and how it all played out, I think Vinyan is the best Rufus role for those intimate moments between a couple - no, not the sex (that bare bum scene was the most unsexy sex scene, IMO), I mean the intimate little glances, the caresses, the lingering looks, the reassuring hugs - from Rufus in particular. The naturalness of Paul and Jeanne's day-to-day relationship, before it all goes wrong, was one of the joys of this film.

I'm glad you liked it, BG. It's not one of my favourite films, but Rufus is superb in it.

[joyceinva]

Agree that this is one of Rufus' finest pieces of work. The gradual decent into despair - when he finally realizes that Jeanne is quite, quite mad and that they are never going to get out of this alive. Easy for an actor not as skilled as Rufus to overplay this character.

[castaneasativa]

Facing our fate - and do our best in the given circumstances, this film showed me this.

Sure, the "fate" is always our very own, comes from our acts, the consequences are not just falling on us "out of the blue". It suggests the simpliest, final questions in a very taut situation. Such as What can human love carry or bear? To what extent can a relationship guide or warn the man or a woman in order to see the reality? Is my reality the same as your reality? Do we live in the same world of mind? Am I able to offer my life to someone to save her/him even if I don't agree her/him? Do I really love?

RS' play convinced me. It's like because I can accept him, it's easier to believe what he does. A circle: I can see what he does so I accept and appreciate him.

The film itself was a bit chaotic for my personal taste. The couple seemed to be in the middle of a labyrinth of their feelings, and sufferings. I think their struggle to survive, "harsh-to-the-bone" efforts to find their son (and themselves) was not supported by the created general atmosphere, it was a bit alienating for me. Maybe it was like when the frame is more dominant than the picture itself. But it's just my subjective viewpont.

[megagem]

Very nice reviews Bastognegirl and Castanea! I absolutely agree that this is some of Rufus' best work and I definitely agree with GE2 when she said it's the best Rufus role for the little intimate moments. I really liked how they scattered those about to remind us that Paul wasn't giving up on her or their relationship despite Jeanne gradually losing her mind.

[rueful]

Thanks for your interesting reviews, bastognegirl and castaneasativa.

Sept 13, 2011 10:27:40 GMT @castaneasativa said:

Maybe it was like when the frame is more dominant than the picture itself.

I like this analogy very much, castaneasativa. I don't know if you have the same opinion of the ending as I do or not, but I felt like the ending overshadowed the brilliant, realistic portrayal of grief and dissolution of a loving relationship. To me, it was unnecessary and a sign that the director did not trust his story, his actors, and the audience.

[castaneasativa]

rueful,

I think it quite similar, yes. Both of them have fallen apart, what remained was only the ghost of their relationship... so it might not have been necessary to destroy phisically one of them, if the aim was to deepen the pain or the tragedy. The wife was not concious about her husband, or was she? He was so lonely when he died. But... I think he had to do what he did. He loved his wife and son as much as his wife loved their son... the same... they just couldn't let each other go...

[rueful]

Sept 13, 2011 17:20:38 GMT @castaneasativa said:

Both of them have fallen apart, what remained was only the ghost of their relationship... so it might not have been necessary to destroy phisically one of them, if the aim was to deepen the pain or the tragedy.

Exactly. Her insanity, her emotional abandonment of him, and the disintegration of their marriage would have been just as devastating if it had occurred on a street in Bankok. I credit this to both actors, because in the earlier scenes you could clearly see the love that remained and the shadows of their original relationship.

I think about this movie a lot (so the director was very successful on that level), and your remark

The wife was not concious about her husband, or was she?

reminded me of this idea: When I try to consider the ending as literal, not symbolic, I think that partly she was still seeing him as her husband, who she blamed ("you let him go"). But at the same time, in her rage, maybe he also represented the tsunami or death itself and therefore she would not move to save him.

[kissmekate]

Sept 14, 2011 14:03:08 GMT rueful said:

But at the same time, in her rage, maybe he also represented the tsunami or death itself and therefore she would not move to save him.

That's a very interesting thought which might well be true, especially considering her disturbed state of mind. Maybe this also led her to blame him not only for the original loss of their son but also for the failure of their search mission?

[rueful]

Good point! All along she was angry that he was (justifiably) hesitant about the search.

[kissmekate]

I just stumbled across this Vinyan interview. I think I haven't read it before - sorry if we do have it somewhere in the media section. I didn't search all that.

[rueful]

Very nice, Kate! Thank you for posting! I hadn't seen that before, and there were a few different questions/replies from the usual ones.

[megagem]

Great interview! Thanks for posting this, Kate! I really enjoyed reading this one

[peach]

"i partly agree with you about the ending too. as upsetting and over the top as it may be, i prefer it to any ready-made hollywood ending that is so often just imposed on us because, you see, we are too frail and vulnerable to take anything else, we have to be reassured before leaving the theater, or else we might be lost to the world."


very astute of you tip, and how true.H'wood feels that they need to constantly change endings to make it more commercial. Reality and life in general is not always happy. Saw Girl with ...Tattoo, the American version it was awful, plot lines changed, major characters changed all to satisfy American audiences. Heaven forbid a man show his feminine side, or show just a bit of vulnerability.
Meg loved your review, could only sit through this film once, too disturbing for me, but after reading your post I will make it a point to re-view this film a second time.