INDOCHINE Movie Review
Vietnam lite. The proud and beautiful Eliane (Catherine Deneuve) is the owner of a rubber plantation in French Indochina in the 1930s. She lives there with her father (symbol of the old world) and her adopted Indochinese daughter Camille (symbol of the new world). After mom has a brief fling with the handsome young French naval officer Jean-Baptiste (Vincent Perez), he and Camille realize that they're in love, and spend the next few hours trying to reunite after he's stationed on a faraway island. The evil of colonialist rule eventually becomes apparent to Jean-Baptiste, and his resistance of the oppressive system results in his death. Not long after, Camille becomes a dedicated Communist freedom fighter, giving the child she had with Jean-Baptiste to her still-proud, still-beautiful mother, who will raise the boy (symbol of the future world) in France. There was probably a way to make a low, juicy entertainment out of this kind of soap opera, but director Régis Wargnier insists on presenting it with a completely straight face as highbrow art, it as if it were a grand, operatic statement about the birth of a revolutionary movement. (It almost looks as if musical numbers had been removed at the last minute.) Deneuve's great to look at, and so is the cinematography, but the whole thing would have seemed more at home—and probably more affecting—as a Lifetime Channel made-for-TV two-parter starring Lisa Hartman.
NEXT STOP … The Scent of Green Papaya, Ramparts of Clay, Ceddo
1992 (PG-13) 155m/C FR Catherine Deneuve, Linh Dan Pham, Vincent Perez, Jean Yanne, Dominique Blanc, Henri Marteau, Carlo Brandt, Gerard Lartigau; D: Regis Wargnier; W: Erik Orsenna, Louis Gardel, Catherine Cohen, Regis Wargnier; C: Francois Catonne; M: Patrick Doyle. Academy Awards ‘92: Best Foreign Film; Cesar Awards ‘93: Best Actress (Deneuve), Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Cinematography, Best Sound, Best Supporting Actress (Blanc); Golden Globe Awards ‘93: Best Foreign Film; National Board of Review Awards ‘92: Best Foreign Film; Nominations: Academy Awards ‘92: Best Actress (Deneuve); British Academy Awards ‘93: Best Foreign Film. VHS, LV, 8mm, Letterbox, Closed Caption COL, FCT, BTV