Visions, Starring Diane Kruger

Honestly, it would be better if this long-haul airline captain had been boozing in the cockpit. Binge-drinking would be less distracting and less self-destructive than her unhealthy sexual obsession. Not surprisingly, her marriage might be at greater risk than her career, even though—or especially because—she suspects the object of her obsession might have been murdered in Yann Gozlan’s Visions, which releases Friday in theaters and on VOD.

Estelle Vasseur seems to have it all. When she isn’t up in the air, Vasseur lives by the beach in the south of France, with her doctor husband Guillaume. Then one day, her ex, hipster artist Ana Dale moves into the ultra-modernist beach house across the cove from her. Of course, Dale wants to rekindle things, even though their last fling ended badly, especially from Vasseur’s perspective.

At first their reunion is passionate, but it is soon evident—at least to viewers—that Dale was simply toying with her. And then she disappears. Frankly, her absence sends Vasseur further down the rabbit hole. Flashes of memory come in drips and drabs, but the realization a voyeur was watching them is understandably disturbing—assuming it really happened.

Gozlan invests heavily in the sex, presumably to fully support the subsequent obsession. However, the utter recklessness of Vasseur’s behavior stretches credibility. It is also super-uncomfortable to watch. Frankly, as thrillers go, Visions is more about exploring fractured psyches, in a Polanski kind of way, then serving up Hitchcockian suspense. Still, it should be noted, Philippe Rombi’s score so slavishly “pays homage” to Bernard Hermann, the late composer’s estate should demand royalties.

Visions represents Gozlan’s second aviation-themed thriller, following the superior Black Box. Yet, the way he depicts Vasseur’s cloistered isolation, gliding through airport priority lines, walking across tarmacs, and sealed inside secure cockpits and training simulators, really is the most distinctive aspect of Visions.

Diane Kruger delivers a boldly revealing (emotionally and physically) performance as Vasseur. Her meltdown is frightening and piteous to behold. Likewise, Mathiu Kassovitz agilely walks a knife’s edge as Dr. Guillaume, keeping us constantly guessing whether he is an eternally patient saint or a stone-cold sinner. However, Marta Nieto really isn’t convincingly fatal as the femme fatale, Dale.

Unfortunately, Visions lacks the tension to keep viewers on the edge of their seats and the answer to the mystery really isn’t very surprising. It also adds a few post-modern flourishes that will confuse the target demographic more than delight. Dimitri de Clrq’s You Go to My Head much more successfully realizes the sort of seductive vibe and ambiguous psychological suspense that Visions was going for. Just not strong enough to recommended, Visions releases this Friday (12/12).