Indochine (1992)

with past of a land. with fragments of its culture. map of love and duty, choices and memories. a story. charming, powerful, seductive. the virtue - extraordinary cast. art of wise director who gives a novel and wonderful pictures, secrets and romantic run to happiness. it is difficult to define it. it remains only beautiful. and this definition is enough. for discover the joy of a special movie, mixture of cinnamon, honey and salt. only advise - see it ! maybe for one of its ingredients. for flavor of love, for nature, for Catherine Deneuve or for the labyrinth of few existences. for romance. or, for cruel verdict. each way to discover it is perfect. because it remains. a meeting.

This is a strange work but epics even seem to suck all the originality out of interesting cinema as the grand scenes with the grand passions play out.The writer Erik Orsenna is the real deal, a real writer, not a screenwriter yet this story might have been written by any hack.The overall effect like watching an advert for Yves Saint Laurent or Chanel: Miss Deneuve's clothes are lovely; the male lead is too lovely, he is gorgeous; the decor is lovely, the scenery is all lovely and breathtaking; the minor characters are lovely and trusting; and the music is lovely.This generally wearisome loveliness is not helped by, firstly, that everything is too clean and well pressed and secondly, by the monotony of the photography in which everything is lit the same way,it is all equal, there are no shadows in any shot, not even the cabaret. In this regard it is like an advert.Catherine Deneuve can act but here she is a wooden totem, looking lovely in some lovely period clothes and sunglasses, quick change: into another set of lovely flowing clothes.This is Vietnam as a runway (no aircraft) - with Westerners in the key role and slightly wistful that it all ended before next season's collection could be exhibited.

You don't miss something until it is gone. This film is loaded as one commenter stated with nostalgia for what never was. A Frenchman going to Indochina in 1930s would be no different than an American going to Samoa or Guam or Puerto Rico today; some did it to make money or fill a private sector job most did it for government work. In Indochina I bet you could count on the head of a pin the number of beautiful women (De Neuve) who ran large rubber plantations and frequented opium dens---n'existaient pas! except in the mind of the French Danielle Steele who wrote this silly thing. It would have been infinitely more enjoyable if it had stayed Danielle Steele instead a UN human rights/ignorant view of colonialism Sunday school lesson.

I wish I could find something good about this film but helas... I really tried hard watching it at different times but still, it's almost unbearable to watch. I really envy non french-speakers who may then not be affected by the terrible acting (but the script is basically awful so the actors may not be totally responsible). This film is discontinued, the storyline is either too slow or too fast, no identification with the characters is possible, it's just uncanny. The actors seem to 'recitate' their part with no emotion (Deneuve has such a monotonous and unconvincing tone of voice. Vincent Perez is very good-looking but truly has no talent whatsoever). Everything happens abruptly with no real continuity, the editing is appalling. We don't see that much of the Vietnam either and these bits of history do nothing for the film. What this film lacks above all is depth, it just goes in different directions with no coherence. Bits of this and bits of that, I find HARD to believe this film got an award for the best foreign film. The landscapes maybe? I certainly would recommend 'The Lover' inspired by Marguerite Duras' novel of the same name as well as films like 'Cyclo' or 'the scent of the green papaya'. A different aspect of the Vietnam but far more interesting.