Nymph (Nang Mai), the sole representative from Thailand at 2009 Festival de Cannes, is a subtle tale of relationship afflictions that wanders off into a forest of slow-moving mysticism. A photographer becomes seduced by a spirit dwelling in an unnamed jungle while his wife, hereabouts absorbed with her own infidelities, is compelled to venture into the wilderness to look for answers to their problems. Auteur director Pen-ek Ratanaruang evokes a in a half-conscious state, with his representation of Nature as an animate, mysterious entity.
The opening introduces an Ovidian dimension with elliptical rape and death scenes that allude to the legend of the titular forest nymph. An uncanny prologue consists of one long Steadicam shot in a forest. There, a woman being raped is glimpsed through the trees, and then, some distance away, two men are seen lying dead in a river. This take appears to be a point-of-view shot, but the person who is watching seems to make no sound as they cross the leaf-strewn forest floor, a subtle but telling detail that anticipates the nightmare to come.
The action cuts to professional photographer Nop (Nopachai Jayanama), who gets a gig taking wildlife pictures of a forest (presumably the same one just seen) some distance from the metropolis he lives in. Nop elects to take along his wife May (Wanida Termthanaporn), an office worker who's been having an affair with her married boss Korn (Chamanun Wanwinwasara).
One night in the forest, Nop is lured by noises outside the tent and goes off to explore. May finds him missing in the morning, and after searching the forest, she discovers only his cell phone and one of his flip-flops. Back home by herself, May mourns her missing husband. As if by magic, her remorse appears to bring him back, giving the couple a chance to salvage their formerly ailing marriage.
A shamanistic view is intoned through an interview with a healer, who warns that spirits avenge those who harm them. Nature, lending gravity and sylvan sensuality to the story, becomes another character in the film as the director demonstrates a gift for evoking romantic melancholy among sophisticates with a few minimalist strokes. His use of the jungle as his main location triggers associations with the imagist experimental films. Structurally unbalanced, Nymph takes too long leading up to Nop's walk in the woods. When things pick up a little with his return hom, it's rather too little rather too late. Less effective is his idea of stripping his plot and characters to their bare essence, as what remains is a symbolist exercise with droning rhythm devoid of his usual sexy humor and lush visuals.
Even though his name is on the international art house circuit, his stock seems to have been in decline since Ploy - and Nymph probably won't reverse the trend.