Un Barrage contre le Pacifique (2009) - film review

Indochina, 1931.  In the Gulf of Siam, a middle-aged mother is struggling to get by with her two children, Joseph and Suzanne, who are 20 and 16 respectively.  She has invested her entire fortune in a piece of land which is regularly flooded and therefore impossible to cultivate.  Her only hope is to build a sea wall to keep the waters at bay, and she devotes herself to this mad scheme.   When Suzanne attracts the attentions of Monsieur Jo, the son of a rich businessman, the family sees an opportunity to improve their lot...

Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh offers his take on French colonialism in this visually arresting but somewhat passionless adaptation of a celebrated novel by Marguerite Duras.  Panh has previously won worldwide acclaim for his eye-opening documentaries about his home country, notably Rice People (1994) and S21: The Khmer Rouge Death Machine (2003).  His Un Barrage contre le Pacifique is less impressive but still manages to make some powerful statements on the cruel injustice and dehumanising influence of imperialism.

Duras’ story, a partially autobiographical account of the writer’s own experiences in Indochina in the 1930s, is an obvious metaphor for the failings of colonialism.   The central character’s attempt to build a seawall to preserve her livelihood echoes France’s futile attempt to hold onto the country in the dying days of its empire.  Perhaps disappointingly, Panh makes no real attempt to develop the anti-imperalist themes and seems content merely to attempt a classical adaptation of a classical work of literature.  The film is visually stunning, the lush cinematography immediately evoking the natural splendour of the location, but it lacks passion and dramatic impetus.  Superficially, it is similar to Jean-Jacques Annaud’s L’Amant (1992) (another Duras adaptation), and it feels just as stilted and lacking in emotional depth.

The film has one saving grace, however, which is Isabelle Huppert in one of her most compelling performances to date.  Huppert is perfectly cast as the morally ambiguous matriarch who, like mother France trying to safeguard her own colonial interests, is passionately and ruthlessly driven to preserve her way of life, even to the point of sacrificing her own daughter.  It is the conflicting nature of Huppert’s character, which the actress conveys so brilliantly and with such subtlety, which propels the drama and gives it at least a semblance of depth.  Unfortunately, the lacklustre contributions from the other actors, whose characters are poorly developed and prone to caricature, undermine Huppert’s efforts somewhat.  

At almost two hours in length, Un Barrage contre le Pacifique is something of a chore to sit through but the ordeal is made bearable by Isabelle Huppert’s remarkable performance and some exquisitely beautiful location photography.   Hopefully the film will at least encourage its audience to take a look at Rithy Panh’s earlier work and form a greater appreciation of a country which has endured more than its share of misery over the past century.

© James Travers 2010

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