French actress EMMANUELLE BEART has defended claims her forthcoming film VINYAN is offensive to survivors of Indonesia’s devastating 2004 tsunami.
Beart came under fire for the forthcoming film after critics accused the cast of turning the tragedy into entertainment – branding it “outrageous”.
But the 45-year-old beauty insists the tsunami was not the subject of the film, in which she plays a woman in search of her son who’s died in the disaster.
She says, “The story is that they lost their son. It happened in the tsunami but it happens in other ways and elsewhere, so I don’t want to justify myself.”
Director Fabrice Du Welz adds: “I don’t want to be unpleasant to people who have really suffered from the tsunami. I tried to be as respectful as I can. I am, with Vinyan, respectful with people. There is no provocation with me. I am really at peace with that. I don’t want to shock anyone who suffered from that terrible disaster. There is no footage from the tsunami.”