Indochine

PG-13

4/15/19922h 39m

Theatrical Release (US)

~ A great film from a mysterious world ~

Overview:

In colonial Vietnam, dashing French naval captain Jean-Baptiste, wealthy plantation owner Éliane Devries, and her adopted Vietnamese daughter Camillevare the three points of a cross-cultural romantic triangle. As the struggle against European imperialism sweeps Indochina, Jean-Baptiste and Camille have to choose sides and Éliane faces the emotionally difficult challenge of raising the child of her daughter and ex-lover.

Director:

Régis Wargnier

Status:

Released

Language:

French

Buget:

$0.00

Revenue:

$29,600,000.00

Key words:

vietnam
civil war
love of one's life
parent child relationship
nationalism
adoption
arranged marriage
plantation
longing
saigon
naval officer
indochina
extramarital affair
vietnamese
theater troupe
french colonialism
exotic locale
1940s
1950s
1930s
adopted daughter
french navy
revolutionaries
nationalist separatism
powerful woman
harvest workers
tragic heroine
plantation owner
french indochina war
indochine
rubber plantation
fugitive lovers
mother and daughter love same man
french naval officer

Cast

Catherine Deneuve

~ as ~

Eliane Devries

Vincent Perez

~ as ~

Jean-Baptiste Le Guen

Linh-Dan Pham

~ as ~

Camille

Jean Yanne

~ as ~

Guy Asselin

Dominique Blanc

~ as ~

Yvette

Alain Fromager

~ as ~

Dominique

Eric Nguyen

~ as ~

Tanh

Jean-Baptiste Huynh

~ as ~

Etienne (Adult)

Henri Marteau

~ as ~

Emile Devries

Carlo Brandt

~ as ~

Castellani

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

CinemaSerf
Written 1 year(s) ago
7
This is a sort of French equivalent of the British Merchant Ivory films that showcases the decline of a colonial influence in the early 1950s tempered with a bit of inter-racial romance. This time it the wealthy "Éliane" (Catherine Deneuve) who owns a large rubber plantation and adopts young local "Camille" (Linh-Dan Pham) whose powerful parents were her friends before her father was assassinated, purportedly by the communist insurgents. The arrival of the handsome young naval officer "Le Guen" (Vincent Perez) sets the cat amongst the pigeons as he takes a shine to the mother whilst the impressionable young daughter takes a liking to him. Now set against the increasingly turbulent environment, the story develops slowly illustrating how this trio must adapt to the increasingly dangerous political and emotional situation that was emerging. This is a little too long and the pace can be glacial at times, but Deneuve exudes a sophisticated plausibility with her character. As local as the locals by birth, but then again, a part of the oppressing ruling class whom the people increasingly wanted rid of. Perez is every inch the handsome and charming sailor who comes along just as both women are experiencing different sorts of vulnerability and the young Linh-Dan Pham also delivers well as her innocent young eyes are opened to the harsher truths of love, her past and her future. The cinematography captures really well the poverty and the luxury, the brightness and the beauty of the community as it emerges into a new phase of self-control and determination. It can be delicate and it can be brutal, and it does demonstrate just how cynically we from the West managed to keep these benign cultures under the thumb for so long.