L'Amant
1992 Drama / Romance
Credits
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Summary
Indochina, in the late 1920s. A young French girl leaves her impoverished mother
and brothers and returns to the boarding school where she will soon complete her studies.
On the way, she encounters a rich and handsome Chinese man – their instant attraction
is mutual, and very intense. She becomes his lover, but he cannot take her as his
wife, for it is not permitted for him to marry outside of his caste. The girl’s
mother sees an opportunity to extort money from the Chinese man for the benefit of her
sons. Refusing to play the part of a prostitute, the girl goes her own way, but
continues her passionate affair with her Chinese lover...
Review
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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