Détails du film


Amant, L' (Amant, L')
poster Réalisateur: Jean-Jacques Annaud
Acteurs: Jane March (as The Young Girl), Tony Leung Ka Fai (as The Chinaman), Frédérique Meininger (as The Mother), Arnaud Giovaninetti (as The Elder Brother), Melvil Poupaud (as The Younger Brother), Lisa Faulkner (as Helene Lagonelle), Xiem Mang (as The Chinaman's Father), Philippe Le Dem (as The French Teacher), Ann Schaufuss (as Anne-Marie Stretter), Quach Van An (as The Driver), Tania Torrens (as The Principal), Raymonde Heudeline (as The Writer (end)), Yvonne Wingerter (as The Writer (beginning)), Do Minh Vien (as The Young Boy), Hélène Patarot (as The Assistant Mistress)
Pays: France
Catégorie: Drama
Année: 1992
Résumé: It is French Colonial Vietnam in 1929. A young French girl from a family that is having some monetary difficulties is returning to boarding school. She is alone on public transportation when she catches the eye of a wealthy Chinese businessman. He offers her a ride into town in the back of his chauffeured sedan, and sparks fly. Can the torrid affair that ensues between them overcome the class restrictions and social mores of that time? Based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Maugerite Duras.
Commentaire: ***SPOILER WARNING***

I would love to have added `The Lover' to my very short list of entertaining sexual adventure movies, up there with `Emmanuel' and `Young Lady Chatterly'. I could, if I had ever sensed that the movie was headed in that direction.

When the lovers in this movie are together, their scenes are thorough enough to fit the bill of those two other titles but when the movie veers away from that it turns drab, dull and lifeless. By that reckoning, we sense that we know the real purpose behind the making of this film.

Based on a book by Margaurite Duras, the movie tells the story of a French student (Jane March) in Indochina in the 1920s who falls in lust with a rich Chinese aristocrat (Tony Leung) twenty years her senior. They see each other and each knows what the other wants. Soon they are meeting regularly for a secret sexual affair.

Because `The Lover' is treated seriously I had a hard time finding a foothold. The movie is constructed as a story of two people from different worlds who are divided by racial lines at a time when crossing such lines meant grave consequences. But the movie doesn't worry about those elements very much; they seem treated at throwaways to what we they think we really came to see. The movie doesn't even have time to credit the characters with names. March and Lueng are simply listed in the credits as `The Young Girl' and `The Chinaman.

The rest of the movie we can predict. She is bored in her life and is looking for adventure. He is rich and is headed back to an arranged marriage and a lifetime of unhappiness. The characters don't have time to deal with these issues. The movie is more interested in their affair, which is not constructed out of personality but out of the kind attraction that make up one of those glossy Playboy videos.

`The Lover' was directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, a director who's work I have not come to like very much. His films are beautiful to look at but miss the human element to the machinations of the plot.

This is a good-looking movie. The cinematography by Robert Fraisse is sumptuous and both leads are attractive people but I wish the movie had made up its mind. As an adventurous sex romp it might have worked. But it opts for a serious story and `The Lover' doesn't have a brain in its pretty little head.

Rating: ** (of four)

Langue: French
Sous-titres:
Durée: 115 Min
Format vidéo: XviD MPEG-4 Codec
Format audio: AC3
Nombre de CD: 2