L'Amant (1992)
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A teenage French girl and a wealthy Chinese man engage in a secret, passionate affair in 1920s French Indochina.
The story
In 1930s French Indochina, a 15-year-old French girl lives in poverty with her family. While traveling on a ferry, she meets a 32-year-old Chinese man, the son of a wealthy property magnate. Captivated by her, he offers her a lift to the city in his luxurious car. The two begin to develop a silent emotional connection. The following day, the man takes her to a room in the Chinese quarter, where they have their first sexual encounter, marking the beginning of a secret relationship defined by passion and the navigation of deep cultural, social, and racial barriers.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In 1930s French Indochina, a 15-year-old French girl lives in poverty with her family. While traveling on a ferry, she meets a 32-year-old Chinese man, the son of a wealthy property magnate. They begin a secret relationship of passionate daily meetings, facing deep cultural and racial barriers. The man falls deeply in love with her, despite her claims of not wanting to be loved. When her family discovers the affair, they initially react with anger but eventually tolerate it for the gifts and money the man provides. However, the relationship reaches a climax when the man, wounded by her family's hostility, physically attacks her. The relationship deteriorates further as the man's father insists on an arranged marriage with an Asian heiress to consolidate business interests. The girl eventually returns to France, mourning the loss of the man. Many decades later, the protagonist, now a successful writer, receives a phone call from her former lover, who is visiting France with his wife and confesses that he has never stopped loving her.
- First release year
- 1992
- Runtime (minutes)
- 115
- Production countries
- France; United Kingdom; Vietnam
- Original languages
- English; Cantonese; Vietnamese
- Directors
- Jean-Jacques Annaud
- Writers
- Jean-Jacques Annaud · screenplay; Gérard Brach · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Jane March · The Girl; Tony Leung Ka-fai · The Man; Jeanne Moreau · narrator
- Genres
- erotic romantic drama
- Themes
- interracial romance; cultural barriers; social class; forbidden love; memory
- Tone and mood
- erotic; melancholic; sombre; lavish
- Premise and plot tags
- interracial romance; forbidden love; historical drama; erotic drama
- Source material / true-story basis
- the semi-autobiographical 1984 novel of the same name by Marguerite Duras
- Reception
- The film was a box office success in France and received generally positive reviews in Europe, while reviews from American critics were more mixed.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 28% · review count: 25; Metacritic · score: 59 · scale: 100 · review count: 25
- Awards and nominations
- Academy Award · Best Cinematography · 1992 · Nominated; Golden Reel Award · Best Sound Editing — Foreign Feature · 1993 · Won; César Award · Best Original Music · 1993 · Won; César Award · Nominated · 1993 · Nominated
- Production trivia
- It was the first Western film to be shot in Vietnam since the reunification of the country in 1975.; The film was shot in English instead of French to secure international distribution and to accommodate the actress.; The film was licensed for release in the United States by MGM Studios, but for its theatrical debut, it first had to get past opposition by the Motion Picture Association of America.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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