Les Caprices d’un fleuve (1996) - film review

In 1786, after a duel, a French noble, Jean-François de la Plaine, is exiled to a French colony in West Africa.  There, as governor, he presides over a thriving slave trade.  He takes an African woman as his lover and adopts a young local girl, Amélie.  His view of the world is irreversibly altered by what he sees and experiences.

Acclaimed French actor Bernard Giraudeau followed his promising directorial debut (L’Autre ) with this lavish period piece, filmed largely on location in Africa.  The sumptuous cinematography just about makes up for the film’s languid pace, although the threadbare narrative and weak characterisation do make the film feel painfully long and empty.  Despite its faults, the film allows Giraudeau, a man noted for his humanism, to make some worthwhile statements about the human condition.  Characteristically, the film’s rather poignant ending offers a gentle plea for multi-racial co-existence.

© James Travers 2004

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