L'Amant is a sensual big budget adaptation of
Marguerite Duras's internationally successful biographical novel of the same title (winner
of the prestigious Prix Goncourt in 1984). The film has the exceptional glossy
production values that we have come to expect of Oscar-winning director Jean-Jacques Annaud
- lavish period sets and evocative photography in one of the world's most beautiful locations.
Visually, the film is stunning and provides an authentic portrait of 1920s Indochina.
Where the film is perhaps lacking is in conveying the innermost feelings, thoughts and
motivations of the characters involved in the drama. Everything is on the surface,
the protagonists feel too impersonal, and consequently the film feels detached, sometimes
cold, even superficial. Too much is left to Jeanne Moreau's sultry narration
of Duras's exquisite prose to supply the essential human dimension which seems to be missing
elsewhere. In any event, L'Amant
is an engaging film, a beautifully composed portrait of a turbulent young love in a foreign
climate.
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Next Jean-Jacques Annaud film: Wings of Courage (1995)
Film Synopsis
In Indochina, towards the end of the 1920s, a 15-year-old French girl bids
her adieux to her impoverished mother and her two brothers and boards the
coach that will take her back to her boarding school in Saigon where she
will complete her studies. On the way, her attention is drawn to a
good-looking and conspicuously well-off Chinese man. He notices her
and offers her a lift in his limousine. From this first meeting it
is apparent to them both that they are strongly attracted to one another.
Now settled in Saigon, the girl continues to meet up with her handsome stranger
and they become passionate lovers. But it is an affair that can go nowhere.
She is a poor French girl; he is an heir to a fortune and forbidden to marry
outside his own caste. On learning of the liaison, the girl's mother
sees an easy way to extort money from the rich Chinese man to benefit herself
and her sons, but the girl refuses to play the part of a prostitute.
After her lover marries the girl is disappointed that he no longer keeps
their appointments. She must return to France and begin a new life.
Many years later the Chinese man lets her know that he still loves her, and
has always loved her...
Cast: Jane March (The Young Girl),
Tony Leung Ka Fai (The Chinaman),
Frédérique Meininger (The Mother),
Arnaud Giovaninetti (The Elder Brother),
Melvil Poupaud (The Younger Brother),
Lisa Faulkner (Helene Lagonelle),
Xiem Mang (The Chinaman's Father),
Philippe Le Dem (The French Teacher),
Ann Schaufuss (Anne-Marie Stretter),
Quach Van An (The Driver),
Tania Torrens (The Principal),
Raymonde Heudeline (The Writer (end)),
Yvonne Wingerter (The Writer (beginning)),
Do Minh Vien (The Young Boy),
Hélène Patarot (The Assistant Mistress),
Jeanne Moreau (Narrator (French and English version)),
Frédéric Auburtin (Liner Pianist),
Alido H. Gaudencio (Anne-Marie Stretters Driver),
Vu Dinh Thi (Ferry Captain),
Truong Thu (Bus Driver)
Country: France / UK / Vietnam
Language: English
Support: Color
Runtime: 115 min
Aka:The Lover
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