Fabrice Du Welz's Calvaire is one that hugely divides audiences. Those that dislike it - who seem to be in the majority - absolutely hate it while those who love it swear by it. That divisive quality tends to be a sign for me that somebody's on to something and is worth keeping tabs on, all the more so when they're smart enough to work with quality people. Enter Du Welz with his new picture, Vinyan, a horror film starring the greatly under-used Rufus Sewell and Emmanuelle Beart as a couple in Phuket trying to recover their kidnapped child. Here's the synopsis from sales agent, The Wild Bunch:
Unable to accept the the loss of their son in the 2005 Tsunami, Jeanne and Paul Bellmer have remained in Phuket. Desperately clinging to the fact that his body was never recovered, Jeanne has convinced herself that the boy was kidnapped by traffickers in the chaos that followed the catastrophe... that her son is still alive. Paul is sceptical, but cannot bring himself to shatter his wife's last hope. Bribing the sinister Mr Gao to take them by boat to the pirate-infested jungles of the Thai/Burmese border, the traumatized couple embark on a quest that will plunge them through paranoia and betrayal, ever deeper into an alien universe, a supernatural realm where the dead are never truly dead, and where nightmares, obsession and horrifying reality converge.
No footage yet but a cluster of stills have turned up on the sales agent site and French film site Allocine and we've gathered the lot together into one rather nasty gallery.
New Du Welz! Wow! Count Me In.
I'm definitely in the "Love Calvaire" club.