Voyage en Chine (2015)
Directed by Zoltan Mayer

Film Review

For his debut feature Hungarian cinematographer-turned-filmmaker Zoltan Mayer invites us to share his obvious love of China with this travelogue not-so-cunningly disguised as a drama.  Filmed mostly in Sichuan, a region in the west-central part of the country, Voyage en Chine certainly captures the picturesque qualities of the Far East but as a drama it lacks substance, following an all too predictable itinerary as it accompanies a grieving mother on her solitary pilgrimage to the place where her estranged son met his death.  The sumptuous visuals cannot disguise the emptiness of the narrative, but this failing is at least partly redeemed by a remarkable central performance from lead actress Yolande Moreau.

Moreau is perfect casting for two reasons.  Firstly, on account of her distinctive physique, she immediately stands out as the stranger in a foreign land, and the bold, slightly comical incongruity of her form inevitably makes her the focal point.  (The downside is that all of the other characters fail to make much of an impact and tend to merge into the scenery.)  Secondly, she has a remarkable talent (virtually unrivalled in francophone cinema) for communicating her character's deeper feelings to the spectator without recourse to overt emotionality.  We feel the loss of her character's son throughout the film, we share her sense of wonder at discovering a new and completely alien culture, and we experience her emotional journey almost as vividly as the character does as she makes her way across an unfamiliar but enchanting landscape.  Voyage en Chine is a film that says nothing profound and offers few surprises, and yet it can hardly help engaging our sympathies with its simple tale of a bereaved mother connecting not only with the son she has lost but also with a people that more than compensate for this loss.  As a drama it is somewhat lacking, but as an emotional experience it is intensely rewarding.

Film Synopsis

Liliane is a sixty-something nurse who leads a humdrum life in France with her far from talkative husband.  One day, she learns that her son Christophe, whom she hasn't seen for several years, has been killed in an accident in China.  French bureaucracy gets in the way of Liliane's attempts to have her son's dead body repatriated to France so in the end she decides to deal with the matter herself.  Arriving in China, she heads for the place where her son was living before his accident, but as she does so she begins to develop a liking for the culture that is so far from her own and yet so appealing.  What started out as a process of mourning soon becomes a voyage of discovery...