Amazon.com: Régis Wargnier's 1992 Oscar winner for Best Foreign Film is a bit like watching paint dry, despite its exotic locale and lead performance by the legendary Catherine Deneuve (Belle de Jour, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg). Deneuve plays a wealthy French landowner, born and raised in Indochina, from 1930 until 1955, the year of a Communist takeover. The brewing political changes bound to upset her fortune and destiny find an even more personal parallel in her relationship with an adopted daughter (Linh Dan Pham), who grows up and becomes independent. The outline of this scenario sounds pretty good, but the film is flat and unworthy of its star. --Tom Keogh
Youth must win over beauty... the price of colonialism This movie is exquisite; Catherine Deneuve is so beautiful, her wardrobe so perfect, that it is hard to concentrate at times. When you see her whipping one of her slaves, you cannot fathom such cruelty and beauty together - but that is the cost exacted by colonialism. When she chooses to use her influence to have Vincent Perez (Jean-Baptiste) sent away, I wanted to scream "no, no, don't do it, can't you see what will happen?" No man will choose a woman of a certain age, no matter how lovely and fascinating, over a young woman who can bear him children. Nature does not allow it. The loveliest scene is when Jean-Baptiste is baptising their son in the pool; the most horrific the slave market which he witnesses and is supposed to be supporting. As lovely as the cinematography is, I do wish the movie had been a little bit shorter. It was exhausting.
GDW
Falling Short of the Mark "Indochine" caught my attention for several reasons; Catherine Deneuve, the location, and the Academy Award. American films get a dozen categories along with films from other English-speaking countries and the rest of the world just gets the Best Foreign Language Oscar. Agreed that there are occassional films that get nominated and/or actually win in other categories ("Life is Beautiful") but they are the exceptions that prove the rule. In the category of cinematography, "Indochine" is a real award-winner. Otherwise it is a flim that comes up short on so many levels.
The plot has possibilities but we are left confused at times, bored at times, and disappointed at times. There is a romantic focus that is, in part, well-stated and, in part, virtually unstated. There is a revolution that appears to emerge but only when it is convenient to the plot; otherwise it must be happening elsewhere because life switches back to normal. There's an exodus to freedom that must have been explained in sub-titles I never saw because the characters involved seemed to voluntarily search out a more opressive existance. (Possibly this was meant to help the revolution but I didn't understand that and, from what I saw, the characters involved didn't either). Every time it looked as though the film was moving towards a climax, things seemed to either quickly fizzle out or casually change direction. The acting was good but I was reminded of Shakespeare's "...full of sound and fury, signifying nothing" Finally, after the pilot light of all the under-developed aspects blew out, the movie came to an unimpressive ending.
Why did I watch this 2 1/2 hour movie? The cinematography is beautiful, the sets are impressive, and the costume excellent leaving the eyes satisfied while the ears are disappointed. For this reason, I am glad that I watched it once. However, there's no need to watch it again.
Magnificent movie This is definitely one of the best movie Catherine Deneuve made in her very long career. I enjoy watching it time after time.
Old-fashioned storytelling on an epic scale In its day a casualty of the chaos and confusion surrounding the frequently ridiculous entry qualifications for the Best Foreign Film Oscar - many superior films were ruled ineligible and those it was competing against were scarcely representative of the world's best - Indochine may not be great art, but it is an enjoyable example of the kind of old-fashioned good storytelling that Hollywood rarely produces anymore.
Set against the last days of the French occupation of what was to later become Vietnam, it uses the relationship between Catherine Deneuve's French plantation owner and her adopted Vietnamese daughter (Linh Dan Pham) as a mirror for the relationship between France and Vietnam. Like the American South, for the privileged few, the French IndoChina is a fairy tale land built on the exploitation of others, which they excuse as 'paternalism.' But the idyll comes crashing down when the daughter runs away from home in search of her lover (Vincent Perez), who had previously had an affair with Deneuve, with tragic consequences.
The film moves between glossy soap opera, political drama and epic romance quite effectively, with strong performances and occasionally striking direction from Regis Wargnier and scoring from Patrick Doyle. Francois Catonne's photography is often disappointing, however, over-fond of the caramel tints that have become something of an unattractive visual cliché for period drama with pretensions to the socio-political, at least until the second act where the film really gets into its stride. Heralded by a sinister procession of sampans making their torch lit way through the night, the scenes on Dragon Island are film-making of a very high order bringing the political, emotional and narrative to the fore in a seamless whole.
Not a great film by any means, but a well-balanced, entertaining and more intelligent one than its detractors give it credit for.
Fabulous This film depicts VietNam during the decline of the French rubber plantation era and the communist foothold. The cinematography is nothing short of fabulous especially the footage of Hau Long Bay with its thousands of lime stone outcroppings jutting out of the sea. Not only is it a good story but the scenery is beautiful.
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